A residential fire at two homes in Langley City last week has caused at least $1.2 million in damage.
The fire broke out just before noon on Wednesday (May 11) in the garage at 5266 196A Street, and had fully engulfed the home by the time fire crews arrives, Langley City Fire Chief Rory Thompson told The Times.
It then quickly spread to the home next door at 5276 196A Street. Some houses in behind were filled with a minor amount of smoke and had shrubs damaged, said Langley City Fire investigator Rob Gunn.
There were more than 30 firefighters on scene from both the City and Township, along with four engines, two ladder trucks and two rescue trucks.
The owners of both houses were home at the time and managed to escape unharmed.
According to the City fire department, the home's residents were most concerned about a female mallard duck that had been sitting on a nest filled with eggs in the home's back yard. A fire investigator spotted the duck the day after the fire and reported that both the mallard and the eggs had made it through unharmed. She sat and protected the eggs through the blaze and the investigation, Gunn said.
"She didn't move the entire time," he said.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
This photo posted on the Langley City Fire Rescue Facebook Page shows a female mallard duck sitting on her eggs in the backyard of a home destroyed by fire last week. Both the mom and her eggs were not harmed in the fire.
