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WFRS makes short work of Rainbow fire

None injured; fire suspected to be caused by malfunctioning barbecue
Rainbow fire April 2021
Smoke from a townhouse fire in Rainbow on Wednesday evening, April 21. The fire was contained by the Whistler Fire Rescue Service within 45 minutes, and no one was injured.

A townhouse fire on Ashleigh McIvor Drive in Whistler’s Rainbow neighbourhood was contained within 45 minutes on Wednesday evening, according to Whistler’s fire chief.

The call came in at 8:10 and the fire was knocked down before 9 p.m., said Whistler Fire Rescue Service (WFRS) Chief John McKearney.

“We had it under control probably within 30 minutes, but we were chasing it through the ceiling of (townhouse units four and five),” McKearney said, adding that about 35 paid-on-call firefighters responded to assist four WFRS career staff in responding.

Two people were displaced as a result of the fire, McKearney said, and emergency social services is helping them with accommodation for the next two nights.

“The good news is that no firefighters were injured, [and] no civilians were injured,” McKearney said.

The fire started on the balcony of the fourth townhouse before spreading to the fifth, he added.

“It looks like the barbecue malfunctioned … and it caught the cedar siding on fire,” McKearney said.

“It got in behind the cedar siding, behind the rainscreen, climbed up to the roof, and then went into the sofits of the end suite, which was No. 5, and travelled right across the ceiling.”

The fifth townhouse was not occupied at the time, and the owners live in Vancouver, McKearney said.

“There was some smoke in [townhouse] No. 3, but it was very, very minor,” he said.

“We were able to use the pressure fans to clean that out, and the other two townhouses, one and two, were fine.”

The fire is a good reminder of the importance of sprinkler systems, particularly on balconies in multi-family structures, McKearney said.

“We’ve seen this time and time again,” he said.

“To be sprinklered is so important, because these two structures, they’re going to be months before they’re habitable.”