Kootenay Boundary firefighters had a busy start to the week with numerous first responder assists as well as two emergency call outs - one in Rossland and the other past Champion Lakes - early Monday.
The first 9-1-1 came in from the Alpine City just past midnight, and serves as a timely reminder for homeowners about the importance of maintaining smoke detectors year round.
Regional firefighters from Trail and Rossland responded to a report of smoke and possible fire in a private residence.
“(It) was an electrical issue within the home, we isolated it, shut the electrical panel off and had Fortis investigating it with us,” Regional Fire Chief Dan Derby told the Trail Times. “There was no fire, so we tried to troubleshoot what was going on.
“But the notable part about the story is there were no working smoke alarms in the house,” Derby emphasized.
“And while the person noticed it and there didn’t seem to be any damage, it’s a great reminder of the value of working smoke alarms.”
A few hours later, just after 4 a.m., an eight-member crew from Trail and Beaver Valley was called out to a report of “explosions” and a commercial vehicle fire at a residence on the 3400-block of Highway 3B, near Park Siding.
The team arrived on scene approximately 25 minutes later to find a tractor trailer on fire.
“The cab burnt up,” said Derby. “The explosions that were heard were fuel, air lines and that sort of thing.”
The fire was contained to the tractor cab, and the cause remains undetermined.
While there is nothing suspicious about the fire, the incident itself is unusual, said Derby.
He referred to the recent fuel truck fire at the Trail airport, as an example.
“We had the vehicle fire at the airport, a block heater was plugged in,” Derby noted. “I’m not a vehicle fire investigator, but it pretty much looked like a block heater issue to me.”
The tractor trailer fire was different, however.
“It was not plugged into a block heater, the vehicle hasn’t run in five months,” he said. “There’s nothing suspicious, it’s weird. And unfortunately, when you have a vehicle like that, by the time it gets noticed in the middle of the night, reported and responded to on a snowy night, it’s a total loss.”