VANCOUVER -- A family has been displaced after a large house fire in Surrey Tuesday, fire officials say.
A grandmother, mother, her eight-year-old son and one-year-old daughter were taken to hospital as a precaution, according to the fire chief at the scene. A stretch of 103 Avenue was closed temporarily to keep traffic back from the scene of the fire in the city's Guildford neighbourhood.
The family is renting the home, and the father told CTV News they don’t have renters' insurance.
A witness who filmed part of the fire told CTV News he heard a large explosion and saw his neighbour's house engulfed in flames.
"When I heard the sound it was like a really low rumble but...I didn’t know if it was an explosion," Andy Baryer said. "It sounded like something was dropped onto concrete. Like the floor was shaking, the ground. Immediately I looked up and I could see smoke so I ran around the corner and that’s when I grabbed my phone and started recording the video."
Batt. Chief Reo Jerome told CTV News they believe the fire started in the garage.
"The garage doors have been blown away from the home, so there was some kind of ignition source that had enough force to remove the garage from the house," he said.
There were 23 firefighters on scene working to put the flames out, but it was challenging, he said.
"With the wind blowing, the temperature, and the dryness, the house was fully involved within moments, so it was a defensive attack," said Jerome.
The RCMP said in a brief statement sent out shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday that the fire was in the 14200 block of 103 Avenue.
As a result, the street was been closed between 144A and 143 streets but has since reopened.
Drivers and pedestrians were asked to avoid the area.
Police say no injuries have been reported so far.
A fire investigator was called to the scene and will be working to determine the cause of the blaze.
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Allison Hurst
