A fire that started in the kitchen area of a home on Hwy. 97 at approximately 11:45 a.m. on Feb. 22, was likely caused by a wood stove. The uninsured home was completely destroyed, said Fire Chief Rick Jones. Photos by Laurena Weninger - Click on picture for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-February 24, 2010
By Laurena Weninger – Osoyoos Times
Jack Heppell was driving from Oliver toward Osoyoos when he saw the smoke billowing out of Harold Schwarz’s house on Feb. 22.
“I knew it wasn’t orchard burning, I could tell by the smoke,” Heppell said, adding he called 911 right away.
The fire broke out at approximately 11:45 a.m. at the home in a vineyard alongside Hwy. 97 near the top of Graveyard Hill.
The fire appeared to have started near the home’s wood stove in the kitchen, Schwarz said at the scene.
He had been working in the orchard when he saw the smoke and he ran to the house.
His girlfriend, the only other occupant of the house, wasn’t home.
“I could have saved it probably with a garden hose, but the garden hose was frozen,” Schwarz said.
Rick Jones, chief of the Osoyoos Volunteer Fire Department, said the home is a write-off. The cause of the fire was likely the wood stove, he said, and the fire started in the chimney area.
Four fire trucks and an undetermined number of firemen responded to the call, Jones said, adding that firefighters were at the scene into the late afternoon.
Firefighters were again called to the home at 6:30 p.m. when the fire “relit,” Jones said, adding his crews did not leave the scene until 9:30 p.m.
The homeowner does not have insurance and Emergency Social Services has been called in to help the family figure out where to stay.
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