From the dark hours of the early morning right through to well after sunrise, the Lampman Volunteer Fire Department battled a house fire that became two house fires on Tuesday, March 24. After about four hours, the blaze was extinguished, but not before it had destroyed one house and most of a second. 

Two homes on Noggle Street in Lampman were caught up in the fire, which began at about 5:00 in the morning and lasted until about 9:00. No one was injured in the fire as the smoke alarms got the homeowners out of danger in time.

"When crews arrived, one house was fully engulfed," said Lampman Fire Chief Grant Palmer. "It went on to the second house, which then caught on fire. Our Lampman crew battled the blaze with help from Alameda, which we got them to come and give us a hand because members were battling two houses and getting tired. But everybody worked well together and we managed to eventually get them under control and put them out."

Palmer said he has no idea yet what caused the fire, and the investigation is ongoing. Whatever caused the fire, however, its spread left the homes in an unlivable state. 

"The first house was totally destroyed. The second one was, I would say, probably over three-quarters destroyed," Palmer said, adding that this was the first two-house fire he had personally seen in Lampman. 

No firefighters were injured over the course of putting the fire out. Palmer attributed the homeowners' safety to functioning smoke detectors, which gave them the warning they needed.

"No injuries, everybody made it out ok," Palmer said. "it just shows the importance of smoke detectors in the house. They woke the people up to get them out safely."

Palmer added that, for people self-isolating, now is a good time to be checking the batteries on your smoke detector and making sure everything works as it's supposed to.