There’s a remarkable story behind a Wednesday, March 16, evening chimney fire.
Peering out her family’s kitchen window, local five-year-old Isabella Atchison caught glimpse of the unusual sight.
Across two streets, Isabella could see flames coming out of someone’s chimney, on Lake Cowichan’s Sahtlam Avenue.
“I saw flames from my window, and I said, ‘Tony, I see flames,’ and he said, ‘What are you talking about?’” the youngster recalls.
Tony, 16, Isabella’s brother, then saw the flames, alerting the siblings’ mother, Sherry, who in turn phoned 911. Tony then promptly rode his bike over to the chimney-fire inflicted house to alert the residents inside as to the danger.
Isabella, a student at Palsson Elementary School, said that she’s received some fire education at school.
“But not that kind of fire,” she said. “Just how to get out of your school.”
Relating her knowledge of fire to the incident at hand, Isabella knew that something was unusual, with not only smoke but flames coming out of the chimney, and that the people in the housed needed to know about it.
“We were very proud of her, because she possibly saved someone’s life,” Sherry said, while Isabella stood, grinning next to her.
The town’s alarm quickly sounded, with the Lake Cowichan Fire Department arriving on scene quickly thereafter.
Thanks to the quick call-out, there was very little fire to fight, so the local volunteers were able to leave the scene after a short while.
“Everything’s great,” the home’s owner Kevin Worthington said, adding that the house suffered no damage as a result of the fire.
“I’m thankful for the kids to come and look out for other people in the neighbourhood.”