A long-standing building in the Solsqua area was damaged by fire on Friday, March 30.
Chief Brett Ogino of the Sicamous Fire Department said they got the call reporting a structure fire at 1805 Cambie-Solsqua road at around 5:30 p.m.
“It’s locally known as Sims’ corner, it was the old Sims residence, it had been a post office and a library back in the day,” Ogino said.
The building was being used as a residence at the time of the fire.
Ogino said Sicamous firefighters had just returned to the station from a motor vehicle accident call and were preparing to head home when the fire call came in allowing them to respond to the fire very quickly.
“We had probably our fastest response to a structure fire ever,” he said.
Fire crews were able to confine damage to the building mostly to one room.
Unfortunately, the room that was most seriously damaged by the fire was part of the oldest part of the home which was once the area’s post office. The rest of the house also suffered smoke damage.
Ogino said the building was unoccupied when the fire started; one of the residents was working outside in the yard when he was alerted by the fire alarm. According to Ogino the residents’ dogs were also outside when the fire started.