Firefighters rescued a litter of kittens from a house fire in Duncan on Tuesday, July 9.
The Duncan Fire Department responded to a fire in the 2900 block of Cliffs Road around 11:40 a.m.
A total of four trucks and 14 firefighters from both the City of Duncan and North Cowichan's South End attended to fight the flames on one of the hottest days of the summer. According to Duncan Fire Chief Landis Carmichael the fire was extinguished in about an hour.
While no residents or firefighters were hurt, Carmichael said that multiple family pets died in the fire.
However, firefighters were able to rescue five one-day old kittens from the building.
"The firefighters did great work providing medical care to the kittens before they could be transported by animal services and ultimately definitive medical care," said Carmichael.
Carmichael said while the structure was saved, there was extensive damage to the interior of the building making it uninhabitable at this time. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation by the RCMP.
"The firefighting was an added challenge and taxing on fire crews given that it was the hottest day of the year," said Carmichael. "Also during this incident the fire department was called for multiple small brush fires which are often caused by improperly discarded smoking materials. This ties up resources and may cause delays for the fire department to service other emergencies in the community. As a reminder, please do not discard smoking materials into brush, dry garden beds, or boulevards containing flammable materials such as bark mulch. Use appropriate means to extinguish and dispose of these items such as an ashtray, or submerge them in water."
