Fire does $1 million damage

Jason and Nadine Tubman woke up in a panic early Monday morning, just before 2 o’clock.

They heard sirens and someone ringing their doorbell and banging on their front door, warning them: “Get out! Get out!”

When they opened their front door, they saw a firestorm roaring over two new houses down the street.

The heat shocked them.

Their street was engulfed by an orange glow where the two burning houses lit up the night like a war zone. Another four single-family houses were threatened by the flames.

The heat was so intense that people were worried their own houses would catch fire.

Nadine and Jason had mere moments to evacuate their house with their two children – Parker, 10, and Tory, 9 – and their dog, Molly.

“My heart was just racing,” said Nadine. “I saw the flames roaring over those houses and I just thought, ‘That’s it. Our house is gone, too.’ ”

She was trying to wake up as adrenalin rushed her into high gear.

The family had just moved from Edmonton into their new Whistler-style house in Abbotsford three weeks earlier. She thought about the safety of her children as she took one quick last look at their beautiful new home.

“It was traumatic,” she said, as she left behind her photo albums and her cherished worldly possessions.

Nine-year-old Tory looked worried.

“I thought our whole neighbourhood was going to burn down,” said the Mountain Park Elementary student.

“I was upset and sad and nervous.”

Other neighbours were also evacuating Junction Creek – a new 50-house strata development being built by Kingma Brothers on 36169 Lower Sumas Mountain Rd. in east Abbotsford.

As firefighters battled the blaze, several families drove to Tim Hortons, where emergency response workers calmed their spirits and had some food to eat.

Meanwhile, 25 firefighters, nine firetrucks and various other firefighting vehicles and equipment were on scene at the inferno.

Firefighters worked hard to prevent the blaze from spreading to the other houses, said Mike Helmer, deputy chief of Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service.

Two houses, valued at about $400,000 each, were destroyed and two other houses suffered heat damage. The total damage is estimated at close to $1 million.

But it could have been much worse, Helmer said.

“The potential for more damage was extreme,” he said, noting there were six to eight houses in close proximity to the fire.

“Our firefighters did an excellent job containing the fire to the two houses,” he said.

The deputy chief noted that a ruptured gas meter was like a blow torch, fuelling the fire between the two houses, which were only about eight feet apart.

Junction Creek residents were impressed by the emergency crews.

The fire was extinguished fairly quickly, said Melody Loewen, noting how the neighbours returned to their homes by about 4 a.m.

She said she was impressed with the work of the police and the firefighters.

“I can’t say enough about how fabulous they were.”

She said the early-morning evacuation taught her how suddenly a person’s life can turn upside down.

Sid Kingma, one of the owners of Kingma Brothers (Construction), believes the fire has caused the construction time-table for the two burned houses and the other two damaged houses to be set back by about four months.

He praised the efforts of the firefighters and is now waiting word to find out what caused the fire.

Investigators are examining the burned-out homes, but have not yet determined the cause of the blaze.