Firework blamed as fire tears through East Vancouver home

About 12 trucks and 40 firefighters were calledafter a Vancouver home caught fireThursday night,and the homeowner who fled the burning house is blaming illegal fireworks.

The second alarm fire brokeoutin the 105-year-oldhouseonthe corner of E10thAvenue and Woodland Drive sometime after 10 p.m.

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Bruce Mitchell, who has owned the house with his sister since 1986, was watching television when he heard people lighting firecrackers outside.

"There was, all of a sudden, a bright orange light, and I went to the front of the house and I realized there were flames leaping up in front of my house from the porch," said Mitchell, who said he saw the flare-likeglow ofRoman candle fireworks.

In the City of Vancouver, Roman candles are not permitted,and no fireworks are allowed to be lit before or after Oct. 31without a special permit.

Mitchell said he tried to flee the house out the front door, but he was thwarted by the flames.

"I just ran to the back of the house, and I was up on the balcony there," he said.

Battalion Chief Dan Christie with Vancouver Fire and Rescue said crews found Mitchell stranded on the balcony when they arrived.

"I think he was just disoriented. When the guys got on scene, right away they just took him to safety," said Christie. "He was quite agitated when I got on scene and spoke to him."

'It was pretty spectacular'

Mitchell escaped the burning house barefoot, withnothing more than his cellphone and the shorts he was wearing.

Firefighters then turned their attention to the flamesthat werequicklytearing through thetwo-and-a-half-storeyhouse.

"Oh, it was rolling. Especially out on this south side, it was coming out those windows quite good. Yeah, it was prettyspectacular," saidChrisitie, who added that flames were spitting more than three metres out the windows.

Mitchell said his two indoor cats, a Burmese named Ezra and a Siamese named Simon, were unaccounted for after the fire.

"My two cats, I don't know what's happened to them," he said. "Hopefully they've escaped."

Christie said the house would nothave to be torn down, but it would be a while before Mitchell, his sister, and a downstairs tenant would be able to return home.

"It was going pretty good, so I imagine it'll be a mess. You couldn't live in there, that's for sure."

The Vancouver Fire and Rescue investigator and an arson investigator with the Vancouver Police Department are handling the case.