FLEETWOOD — A deadly fire ripped through a Surrey home early Thursday morning, killing one person and sending seven to hospital.
The fire broke out at around 3 a.m. at a house in Fleetwood on 146A Street near 89th Avenue.
Police say the victim was an elderly woman.
On the second floor balcony there is a poster advertising a Khalsa daycare.
Surrey deputy fire chief Jon Caviglia didn’t know if any of the victims were children.
When firefighters arrived the second floor was engulfed in flames and 24 firefighters were on the scene.
Caviglia said the seven people sent to hospital due to smoke inhalation and/or burns of varying degrees.
“In the early stages of the fire, there were neighbours that helped us get people out of the house,†Caviglia said, adding that it doesn’t appear that those in the home had early notification of a fire.
“We do know that some of the smoke alarms were not working. But we don’t know if all of them were working or not because still early in the investigation…. The number one thing that people can do to protect themselves is to make sure they have working smoke alarms in their house where they’re supposed to be,†he said.
Caviglia said the cause of the fire is not yet known.
Neighbour Elena Gorlekan said the house was recently sold and that the new residents kept to themselves. Standing with her young son, across the street, she said she was saddened to hear that someone had died so soon after someone had been shot in the area.
"The house was for sale, and there was a daycare sign that went up," she said. "It's tragic, so awful. But we're not shocked by this sort of thing anymore. There's gunshots and drug dealers hanging around all the time. We never know what's going on in this neighbourhood anymore. It's not safe here."
Next door neighbour Rosemary Willicome, 23, stood shaking in the rain as she described how her twin brother Vincent helped drag some of the victims to safety from the burning house.
"My brother said some of them were crawling out the back and some jumped down from the second floor," she said
Vincent helped pull an elderly woman out of the house, she said.
"She was badly burned, my brother said. Some of the people had scorch marks," she said, adding her brother is traumatized by what he witnessed. She said he is at home just trying to keep calm.
"He's winding down. It was quite a shock."
An Indo-Canadian man who would identify himself only as a family friend was allowed to enter the house to gather a few precious belongings. He came out carrying, carefully over his head, the charred remains of what he said were the family "scriptures." He said he didn't want to speak "out of respect for the family."
By 7 a.m., firefighters had put out the blaze but the two-storey house was gutted.
Investigators are combing through the house. The walls on the second floor are burned out and many of the family's possessions lay strewn on the lawn.
-With files from Amy Reid, Surrey Now