Fire returns to hood hotspot

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff

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A particular stretch of the VLA is becoming familiar to Prince George firefighters.

For the third time this year, they responded to a duplex fire in the 1400 block of McCullagh Avenue, when 15 firefighters from three halls were called to the scene at 5 a.m. Tuesday.

They arrived at 1449 and 1457 McCullagh to find smoke and flames at the rear of both homes while the six occupants - five from one side and one from the other - had evacuated safely, Prince George Fire Rescue Chief John Lane said.

A special nozzle was used to inject water into the attic space while the roof was kept intact to contain the fire and minimize damage from water and firefighting efforts, Lane said.

The fire was extinguished within about two hours and by midmorning investigators were on the scene.

On Jan. 21, two people were taken to hospital and $50,000 damage was caused when a fire broke out in the basement of

1489 McCullagh.

And three weeks later, on Feb. 21, firefighters were back at the same location battling a fire in the duplex's other half, at 1481 McCullagh, causing a further $15,000 in smoke and water damage although no one was hurt.

Authorities later deemed the second fire suspicious but unrelated to the first blaze and no one has yet been charged.

Both halves of that duplex remain

unoccupied.

There is a third duplex, situated right between the two where the fires have broken out.

Norm Lattie, 48, lives in one half of that duplex and the latest blaze put him on edge.

It's close to home. We're right between the fires, Lattie said as he looked out at the scene Tuesday morning from his balcony. It's scary actually, fire has no respect for anybody.

Lattie, his wife and their family of five have lived there since the beginning of May, and other than the fires have found the neighbourhood, located across Victoria Street from the Aboriginal Choice School, reasonably peaceful, although he added police are a common sight.

It's the whole stereotype, he said. If you think it's bad in the hood, it's bad in the hood. But we have a really good neighbour here, he's a really good man, it's no trouble here.

The owner of the duplex where the latest fire broke out had issued an eviction notice to a tenant in one half for loud partying, according to a McCullagh Avenue resident who declined to provide a name.

Prince George RCMP Cpl. Craig Douglass said Tuesday the investigation remains in the firefighters' hands and it's too soon to draw any conclusions.