Fire investigators are looking at the possibility that a propane tank, or a medical oxygen tank, may have contributed to the speed at which a fatal fire tore through a North Vancouver apartment, RCMP said yesterday.
“There’s no question about it, it moved really fast,“ said North Vancouver Fire Chief Barrie Penman.
The fire is believed to have started in a first-floor suite and engulfed suites above it on the second and third floors.
“It’s a wood-frame building. It’s as simple as that. Wood burns fast.”
RCMP Const. Michael McLaughlin said the building is more than 40 years old and did comply with the fire code of the time. There were no sprinklers and few smoke and heat detectors.
Dustan Roach-Matthews, a young boy who alerted neighbours, said an explosion blew out the windows.
“We are investigating propane and even oxygen tanks as possible contributors to this fire and to the spread of this fire,” McLaughlin said.
