A massive fire destroyed two local business and apartments in Hope Saturday night.
Witnesses on the street captured video of the business going up in flames at about 9:30 p.m.
Shawn Bell lived in the building and heard a neighbour screaming for him to get out. He escaped in time and the next day was left looking at the ruins.
“I just lost my home and my work. I used to work downstairs,” Bell told CTV News. “It’s heartbreaking.”
Tom Desorcy, district of Hope fire chief, said fire crews used a defensive strategy to combat the flames in the old building.
“The fuel load in the building was extensive,” he said. “Carpets, lino, paint and paint products certainly added to the fire.”
The fire ravaged Canyon Carpets and the appliance shop next door owned by Jay Thomm.
“ [I] packed up my daughter and my wife and I moved out here try and start a life and try and help people,” Thomm said.
As Dylan Godfrey’s family rushed to salvage things from their home on Sunday, the fire suddenly sparked up again.
“It's been such a long night,” Godfrey said. “We've come back to get all our stuff this morning and now this is happening here.”
Amy Dupont was visibly shaken as she watched flames burn again on Sunday.
“My parents just lost everything,” she said.
Donna Kropp, Hope district councilor, said the community is planning initiatives to support the distressed families, including some tenants who didn’t have insurance.
“We’d like to raise some funds to get them back on their feet and back into life and in the swing of things,” she said. “This is a devastating event.”
Godfrey has set up a fundraiser page for his father-in-law's appliance store.
No one was injured in the blaze and the cause is yet to be determined.
With a report from CTV Vancouver's St. John Alexander
