3 dead, including young child, after tragic East Vancouver fire, officials say

Three people have died, including a child under the age of 10, after a fire that broke out in East Vancouver Sunday morning.

Vancouver Fire Rescue Services Chief Karen Fry told reporters at a news conference in the afternoon that crews arrived at the home in the 2800 block of East 41st Avenue to find two survivors of the blaze outside.

Those individuals informed crews that three more people were inside. CTV News has confirmed the deceased were a mother, a child and a grandfather.

“Our firefighters courageously entered the home and were able to locate the three unaccounted for individuals,” said Fry.

“Extensive and intense efforts by our crews to resuscitate were unsuccessful, and tragically all three were pronounced deceased at the scene,” she added.

Firefighters were called to the home near the intersection of 41st and Earles Street sometime before 7:30 a.m.

Images from the scene showed bright orange flames consuming the interior of the building as smoke billowed from a window in the front of the one-storey house.

There was a large response, including 40 firefighters and several ambulances. The coroner, fire investigators and a forensics team were also on scene.

The cause is still under investigation, but firefighters believe it started in the home’s basement.

The chief is reminding everyone to change smoke alarm batteries frequently, and buy new detectors every 10 years.

It is not clear whether alarms were working in the East Vancouver home.

“We don’t have that information at this time, and whether the smoke alarms alerted them or not,” said Fry.