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Tuesday, July 28, 2015
FIRE
Generator causes blaze: Fire chief
Alberni resident attempted to live off the grid to save from paying BC Hydro’s hiked electricity rates
MARTIN WISSMATH ALBERNI VALLEY TIMES
A Port Alberni resident is thankful to be alive after his house was destroyed by a fire early Monday morning. Firefighters concluded that a gas generator used to power the home, which was disconnected from the BC Hydro grid, caused the blaze. Kevin Fletcher and his girlfriend were not at home when their rented house on Fourth Avenue burst into flames early on Monday. He and his girlfriend were out on the waterfront celebrating her birthday, Fletcher said, when they heard sirens. He knew something was wrong, he said. He returned to get his two dogs, which were tied up on the porch. Friends had been in the house looking for him, he said. No one was hurt. “My God, if I had lost [anyone] I don’t know what I would have done,” Fletcher said. Port Alberni firefighters responded to the emergency call at 3:46 a.m. on Monday, said fire chief Tim Pley. When they got to the house, it was already fully aflame. The house and two outbuildings were extensively damaged. Only a blackened hull remains of the detached garage.
Dan Peterson looks on at the aftermath of a fire At 3532 Fourth Avenue that destroyed a garage and house. Peterson’s friend Kevin Fletcher lived in the house but was not home when the fire happened. No one was injured. [MARTIN WISSMATH, TIMES].
“BC Hydro had been disconnected and they were running a generator to power the house, so the fire was caused by that,” Pley said,
adding he doesn’t recommend that residents use generators for all of their electricity. “In this case they had jury-
rigged an exhaust pipe running from a generator inside the house,” Pley said. The heat from the exhaust pipe, which ran dir-
ectly through the wall, caused the fire, he noted. Firefighters searched the house to ensure no one was inside, Pley said. They then worked to contain the blaze as it was spreading to a neighbouring property. Aside from the risk of fire, running a generator to power your home has other risks, Pley said. Carbon monoxide poisoning can result from inhaling the exhaust, he said. The generated electricity can also feed back into the power system, potentially causing harm to BC Hydro workers who aren’t expecting live wires from a residence, he said. Grateful for the lives spared, Fletcher lost all his belongings in the fire except the clothes on his back, some appliances and a beatup pickup truck. “I’m in shock,” Fletcher said. “I’m wading through burnt stuff trying to find my girlfriend’s mom’s ashes.” He was also hoping to find any family pictures of his late father that might still be intact, he said. Fletcher had hooked up a generator on Friday after BC Hydro cut the power to his home because he couldn’t pay the bills, he said. But he’s confused how it could have caused the fire at the time. See FIRE, Page 3
ANIMAL CONTROL
Alberni shelter sees 800 sterilizations Two-year initiative reaches its goal to curb overpopulation of free-roaming cats
Measures needed to reduce bear conflicts
PA was the first community on Vancouver Island to earn Bear Smart designation, but two years later those running the provincial program warn that more attention is needed. » Alberni Region 3
Korean is slipping into your kitchens
Everywhere you look, Korean food is screaming off the trend charts. » Taste, 10
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ERIC PLUMMER ALBERNI VALLEY TIMES
Eight hundred fewer cats will be multiplying in the community as the result of a two-year initiative to curb Port Alberni’s feline overpopulation. The total was announced Monday by the BC SPCA with the conclusion of a project launched in 2013 to spay and neuter 800 cats. With $110,900 in funding from PetSmart Charities of Canada, the Alberni-Calyoquot branch was able to focus on the sterilization of animals that would otherwise not be fixed. The overpopulation of cats in Port Alberni has been a problem for the local animal shelter, leading the facility to send out 246 cats to other SPCA branches last year for adoption elsewhere. But in 2015, staff have seen fewer unwanted cats have come through the shelter with a 37 per cent decline of incoming stray kittens compared to 2011 numbers. “This is the first year that we have not been completely overwhelmed by kittens,” said the Alberni-Clayoquot branch manager Irene Towell in a media release from the BC SPCA.
Animal care attendant Reyna Waller handles Caroline Mars, a cat recently brought to the Alberni-Clayoquot branch of the BC SPCA for fixing and adoption. [ERIC PLUMMER, TIMES]
“We’ve also passed the 2015 spring peak of kitten season and have only seen two surrendered pregnant cats come to the shelter.” A total of 447 female cats were spayed over the course of the
two-year project, while 353 males were neutered. These include pets being cared for by residents as well as feral cats, which are domestic breeds that are born from strays outside a home, growing up without being accus-
tomed to human contact. The SPCA estimates that most of the sterilized animals were strays – either free-roaming in a neighbourhood or living within one of Port Alberni’s several feral cat groups. “They were able to sterilized 100 per cent of the cats from five colonies and are still working on finishing two more,” said BC SPCA outreach coordinator Megan Munroe. “Both the branch and community participated in the trapping of cats and taking them to the vet for their appointment.” Munroe saw a Port Alberni resident who was overrun with multiplying cats benefit from the sterilization program. “We were able to fix 12 of his cats and remove the kittens from his care,” she said. “He was happy with his decision to have his cats fixed, because he felt he was able to provide better care to fewer cats, his neighbours stopped complaining and local animal control bylaw officers no longer had to make visits to his home.” Eric.Plummer@avtimes.net 250-723-8171
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