Neighbours looked on as a home on Thiek Road on Cowichan Tribes land was destroyed by fire mid-day Friday.
Crews from two North Cowichan fire halls, Maple Bay and South End, as well as the Duncan fire department responded to the Sept. 29 blaze around 11:30 a.m.
Flames shot through a downstairs front window before eventually bursting through the back of the house and the roof. Within minutes the roof was gone, and not long thereafter a section of the upper floor of the home was also decimated.
Ron French, North Cowichan’s interim fire chief, said the fire crews had the fire doused by 2 p.m., and fire officials from Cowichan Tribes were left on scene.
He said everyone who was in the house was out before the fire crews arrived, and there were no injuries.
“The structure is a total loss and it will have to be completely demolished because it’s unsafe ,” French said.
“The fire is under investigation, which will be conducted by the RCMP and Cowichan Tribes as the property is on federal land. We found nothing suspicious about it at this time, and investigators will do their best to find the cause and I expect they’ll be talking to the people that were in the house to see if that can be determined.”