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Dog dies and buildings destroyed in fire at rural area near Nanaimo

Four fire departments, including Cranberry Volunteer Fire Department, battle blaze in Cassidy
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Members of Extension Volunteer Fire Department at the scene of a fire on Spruston Road, near Nanaimo on Saturday, Sept. 17. (Karl Yu/News Bulletin)

A dog died and buildings were destroyed as firefighters from numerous rural departments fought a blaze on a property near Nanaimo today.

Fire crews from Cranberry, Extension, North Oyster and North Cedar were among those called to the scene in the 1300 block of Spruston Road in Cassidy, at approximately 9:20 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 17, according to Ron Guelette, Cranberry Volunteer Fire Department chief.

The cause is not yet known, but a house, motorhome and outbuilding are “total writeoffs” and trees on the property were also damaged, said Guelette. None of the residents sustained injuries, although a dog was lost, he said.

“We just hit it as hard as we could from the exterior because of the exposures, the forest,” said Guelette. “We had four tenders running and two engines pumping on it.”

As of 2:15 p.m., Guelette said the fire was under control, with crews putting out hot spots and an estimator on scene.

B.C. Hydro crews were also on scene and the area was listed on B.C. Hydro’s outage list earlier, with 16 customers affected.



reporter@nanaimobulletin.com

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Karl Yu

About the Author: Karl Yu

After interning at Vancouver Metro free daily newspaper, I joined Black Press in 2010.
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