Firefighters confirm there were no working smoke detectors in the Surrey home that caught fire early Thursday morning, killing an elderly woman and injuring everyone else inside.
The blaze broke out upstairs at a residence on 146A Street around 3:30 a.m. Seven people made it out alive but two were rushed to the burn unit at Vancouver General Hospital and two others remain in area hospitals.
A toddler was among the injured.
Neighbour Vincent Willicombe told CTV News he woke up and saw smoke billowing out of the home.
“People were jumping out the back on a box spring or mattress out there. It was definitely nerve wracking,” he said.
The Surrey Fire Service said a hardwired smoke alarm had been disconnected upstairs and two battery-powered alarms on the ground floor weren’t working.
The department is still investigating the cause of the fire but said it doesn’t appear suspicious. Firefighters said it could have been caused by candles, incense or something similar.
The home doubles as a licensed daycare centre with capacity for eight children.
Neighbour Austin Hudson went to high school with the daughter of the woman running the daycare, and described the room where the fire broke out as a “prayer room.”
“It was filled with sacred knives, silk sheets along the walls and stuff. Very beautiful home,” Hudson said.
Investigators said they hadn’t spoken to the survivors by Thursday evening due to their injuries.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Maria Weisgarber
