Volunteer firefighters saved one of only two grocery stores on Texada Island Friday evening when an adjacent structure went up in flames.
Around 5:30 p.m. Friday, Van Anda Volunteer Fire Department was called to a downtown fire on Copper Queen Street, neighbouring Texada Market, the only grocery store in Van Anda.
Crews arrived to find a structure, used both as a home and building, fully ablaze.
“Our engines showed up eight to ten minutes after the page went out, and the building was already fully engulfed,” said Deputy Fire Chief Mark Robert. “It was already too late to save.”
The homeowner, who suffered burns, was already outside the building when fire crews arrived, Robert said.
The Texada’s single ambulance was on the ferry to Powell River at the time, but an air ambulance landed in the baseball field off Marble Bay Road and transported the man to hospital. His condition has not been released.
With help from the Gillies Bay Fire Department, crews saved the neighbouring grocery store and residence. Neighbours helped, holding hoses from a safe distance.
“The community always pitches in to help, even though they aren’t part of the fire department.”
Robert said it took crews three and a half hours to knock down the fire and when they started running low on water, Robert called for help from Lafarge Quarry, which provided a 15,000-gallon portable water tank.
Robert said the firefighters focused on saving the neighbouring structures, particularly Texada Market.
“It would have been a huge loss to the community if we had lost one of the two grocery stores on the island,” Robert said, adding that the closest grocery store is about 12 kilometres away, in Gillies Bay.
The grocery store was saved with minimal fire or water damage and reopened to the public Sunday.
Kandi Wilson, manager of Texada Market, said losing the store would have had an “astronomical” impact on Texada islanders.
“There’s a lot of people that rely on this store,” she said. “I’m thankful that the store was built out of cinder blocks. Otherwise we would be out of work.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
