The RCMP and Comox Fire Department are continuing their investigation into a weekend fire that left two dead.
On Friday, the department received a report on a house on Ryan Road engulfed in flames. When firefighters arrived at the scene, they were able to knock down the fire in 15 minutes.
Comox Fire Rescue’s Assistant Chief of Operations and Training Rick Shelton says that they didn’t need backup given how many firefighters had attended.
“We received a call for fire dispatch, so we paged out our entire department,” says Shelton. “We had six apparatus, and 36 members from our fire department, so there was no need for mutual aid from another department, and we were able to knock down the fire reasonably quickly and get to search procedures.”
Upon their search, they found two deceased at the scene, later revealed to be an elderly couple.
When talking about updates regarding the investigation, Shelton adds that they have yet to find out what caused the fire.
“Both the RCMP and the fire department will be investigating the fire, and it’s in the preliminary stage, because the fire is still smoldering,” Shelton added. “We are just waiting to get things completely extinguished, so we can get in and determine the actual cause is.”
He also says that there was an exterior and interior attack, which left hidden fires that took time to extinguish given the extent of the fire.
