WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 21 2016
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North Vancouver teen knocks out cancer NORTHSHORENEWS
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Fire damages North Van heritage home
Investigators focus on electrical cause BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
Investigators are looking to find the cause of a fire that badly damaged a North Vancouver heritage home on Friday evening.
The first 9-1-1 calls came in just after 5 p.m. for the blaze in the 300 block of West 15th Street. When North Vancouver City Fire crews arrived, they found heavy flames coming from the home’s main floor and spreading into bedrooms upstairs. “Crews did an aggressive interior attack, knocked the fire down and checked for extension into different areas of the house. There’s heavy smoke and water damage throughout the main and upper (floor) and some water damage in the basement,” said Fire Chief Dan Pistilli. No one was hurt in the fire. The family who owns the heritage home built in 1912 was out of the country at the time, Pistilli said. The tenant who lives in the basement suite is currently staying with neighbours. The home is now boarded up and insurance and restoration companies are assessing the damage. Pistilli said he believes the home, which is an older home that has been updated, can be salvaged. Contrary to some media reports, the fire is not related to Christmas lights and there was no Christmas tree in the
City of North Vancouver firefighters douse at house fire at 348 West 15th St. that started just after 5 p.m. on Friday night. The family who lives in the home were not home at the time. PHOTO PAUL MCGRATH home, Pistilli said. He added investigators are still trying to pinpoint where the fire started but “the initial focus is electrical.” Christmas tends to be a busy time for fire departments, when people are more inclined to overload electrical circuits, leave candles burning and bring combustible trees inside. “Just be extra careful with all of that,” Pistilli said.
Believe Again The Peak of Christmas
Grade 9 students to learn about mental health JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
Grade 9 students in North and West Vancouver schools will have mental health education added to their curriculum starting in the new year.
The mental health literacy
program, developed on the North Shore, is the first of its kind in provincial public schools. The idea is to de-stigmatize mental illness, let teens know the difference between normal adolescent anxieties and more serious problems, educate students about their brains and offer tools and
resources to help when there are problems. “It’s something we should be talking about,” said Jeremy Church, a district principal with the North Vancouver School District. Church, who is also principal at Mountainside secondary, home to the North Vancouver School District’s
alternative programs, said he thinks teens are eager for information on the topic. “I think that they really do want to learn about it,” he said. “They see it happening.” The unique educational program is the result of work done by a collaborative local
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