Fire guts East Vancouver home, displaces residents

Major fire in East Van leaves 2 families homeless A blaze on East 22nd Avenue this afternoon has gutted one home and seriously damaged another.

A serious fire gutted an East Vancouver home Saturday afternoon leaving at least two families homeless.

Vancouver Fire Battalion Chief Steve Duncan said flames were pouring from the home on East 22nd Avenue near Fraser Street when crews arrived.

“It’s quite a bit of damage. It got up into the corner, into the attic a little bit, that’s why we upgraded it to a second-alarm [fire], and the guys had to rip down the ceiling on the inside to make sure it didn’t extend beyond that,” Duncan told CTV News.

Juan Camilo Vargas is one of five exchange students living in the home where the fire started.

“We were just in the kitchen when we saw smoke and then we saw fire in the garage and we just went out of the house,” he said.

Buildings on both sides of the home were also damaged by the blaze. No one was injured in the fire and the cause is still under investigation.