Quest for fire protection for rural Okanagan neighbourhood continues | 24CA News
A North Okanagan politician is hoping Lake Country, B.C., will agree to offer fireplace service to dozens of his constituents whose neighbourhood at the moment has no fireplace safety.
After getting a no from the City of Vernon, Regional District of North Okanagan space director Bob Fleming has approached Lake Country about offering fireplace service to the unprotected space, which sits between Vernon and Lake Country.
“Knowing somebody will come is a big deal,” stated Fleming. “Even if there is no event, having that assurance is important.”
The space skilled a home fireplace final month that left three adults lifeless. That’s making the push for fireplace safety extra essential.
“Up until that event, there hadn’t really been a fire in these areas that affected both people and structures. [The fire] obviously brought it into sharp focus because there were actually fatalities in that fire, which was horrible,” Fleming stated.
“This initiative started before that happened but it certainly puts it into focus.”
Last week, the City of Vernon’s council voted towards offering fireplace service as a result of town doesn’t have the staffing in place.
Fleming is now hoping Lake Country will probably be open to a hearth contract for a minimum of a part of the unprotected space because the neighbourhood has no different choices.
If Lake Country is prepared to supply fireplace safety to the world, residents will then get an opportunity to vote on whether or not they’re prepared to pay the charge for the service
Meanwhile, greater than a month after the deadly home fireplace on Commonage Road the investigation into the reason for the blaze stays open.
“We are hopeful that we can determine a cause,” stated Cst. Chris Terleski, of the Vernon RCMP.
“We don’t have an estimate on the timeline. Obviously, with the damage to the structure, these types of investigations are fairly complex so unfortunately they do take quite some time to sift through the evidence [and] analyze that evidence.”
The reason for the fireplace will not be believed to be prison in nature. Police stated the RCMP is concerned within the investigation on the request of the Office of the Fire Commissioner due to the place the fireplace was situated.
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