1 home destroyed in Vancouver Island wildfire

A wildfire in the Victoria areawas contained within a few hours Wednesday, but not before it forced evacuations and destroyed ahome.

The small house along Sooke RoadinMetchosin, west of the city, was damaged byflames and water as crews foughtto get the fast-moving brush fire under control.

Highway 14 was also closed for several hours. Fire officials say nopeople or animals were hurt.

Wildfire burning out of control on Vancouver Island

7 years ago

Duration 0:29

Brenda Henderson captured footage of a brush fire near Sooke that engulfed a home and caused evacuations.

Fire crews were called to the blazenear Kangaroo Roadat around 3:30 p.m. PT.

Courtenay Wilson says he witnessed the start of the fire and directed traffic as it began.

"I come around the corner and all of a sudden I'm just seeing smoke going across the highway," Wilsonsaid.

"As soon as I get right up to it, a cop car pulls up, and then I'm looking ahead,and now there's flames all across the side of the road.

"When I got there, the fire was just starting, but you could feel the heat. The fire was only about 10 feet away from me."

Homeowner tried to fight fire

Langford Fire Chief Chris Aubreysays one man was home at the time and had to be removed from the destroyed house when his efforts to fight the fire were unsuccessful.

He says the fire was challenging because of the steep terrain and dense brush where it was sparked. A total of 31 firefighters and a helicopter were deployed against it.

Aubrey says the fire was approximately 60 hectares in sizebut was quite long and narrow.

"It is a little curious that when crews arrived, Metchosin [Fire Department] reported the fire was two kilometres in length but there were about 15 to 20 spot fires," he said. "We're not sure what would have caused it."

Close call for others

Metchosin Fire Chief Stephanie Dunlop says the fire came within metres of other structures.

Water to fight the firewas also a challenge because the rural area has nohydrants.

"It was very difficult toget a grip on originally," Dunlopsaid. "There's no water here, so we had to bring in water."

Other fire departments were called in to shuttle water from several kilometres away.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

"There's several different rumours going around right now," Dunlop said.

"At this point in time we have not done an investigation and we don't want to speculate on how a fire like that would have started."

With files from Megan Thomas, Kirstie Hudson and Chek News