VANCOUVER -- One person is recovering in hospital and two families are displaced after a large fire torched a Vancouver duplex Tuesday.
Neighbours recalled to CTV News what they saw as the homes on Cambie Street near 37th Avenue went up in flames.
Andrew Gaspar was shovelling his walk when he looked over at his neighbour's house.
"I saw smoke - a little bit of smoke - and I thought it was the chimney," he said.
"I did a double take and it wasn't the chimney. It was a really thick smoke."
Flames shot out of the windows of the home, coming terrifyingly close to his duplex.
"I ran in, called my mom," he said.
Gaspar said he told his mother, "We have to get out of here. There's a fire."
Once his mom and brother were out, he called 911. But when he turned to head outside and opened the door, saw the flames were getting closer to his home.
"I put my helmet on, put my safety glasses on, put a mask on. And did a beeline out of here."
Crews arrived at about 3:20 p.m., and closed Cambie Street in both directions through the middle of rush hour.
Shortly after firefighters arrived, resident Babe Nombrado heard something at her door. She and her husband live in the apartment just above Gaspar's.
"There was a hard knock on the door," she said. "I opened the door and it was a fireman, and he said, 'Get out! There's a fire.' "
Her husband is recovering from surgery, so she said it was challenging for them to get out of the apartment so quickly.
"It was very scary. I look at the kitchen and I saw fire coming out of the window."
Fire crews say seven people in total live in the duplex, all of whom are now displaced because of the fire.
Officials have not yet provided a possible cause of the fire. The investigation is underway.
