Thanks to Trevor Rockliffe – Castanet for picture

Rob Graham, spokesman for the Oliver Fire Department, said early indications are that the blaze started at the rear of the house. “It was a fairly dangerous fire, mainly because when we got here there was no way for us to enter into the building,” he said. “Mainly our firefighting efforts were from the exterior.” The fire department’s pumper trucks and some 20 firefighters were called to the scene, while the Osoyoos and Okanagan Falls fire
departments were placed on standby. “We have an agreement with them for mutual aid, but the fire didn’t spread, so we didn’t need them,” he said. Fire crews prevented the flames from spreading to the nearby Desert Arms Hotel on the south.

“Good work by Oliver Fire Department. I suspect there were several layers of roof covering on the house. However I disagree on the garage as being the origin. Subject to other factors, all the pictures show heaviest flame, the burn pattern ‘V’ and heaviest damage as starting at ground level at back of house; this indicates origin was likely the back of house with extension to garage and adjacent building. If the garage or automobile was the point of origin then one would expect that the garage would be destroyed and front of the house would have heaviest damage. One ODN picture clearly shows the rear burning and damage extending forward. The front of the garage is relatively intact other than the missing door panel which may have been removed by the FD.”

says Pat Hampson (Fire Investigation Level III certified)