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UPDATE: Kamloops family uninjured after van fire in Salmon Arm

Firefighters extinguish a vehicle fire behind the Salmon Arm Rec Centre Friday, July 27
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The fire department covered a burning van in foam as they worked to extinguish flames and smoke Friday evening, July 27 about 9 p.m. just behind the Salmon Arm Rec Centre. (Martha Wickett/Salmon Arm Observer)

UPDATE: 11 a.m. Monday, July 30

Salmon Arm Fire Chief Brad Shirley says Firehall #2 responded to the van fire at about 8:30 p.m. Friday, July 27.

He says the driver of the Volkswagen van believed the vehicle was overheating and pulled over to the side of the road, where he saw a fire in the engine.

Shirley says the van was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived and was completely destroyed by the fire.

The family from Kamloops escaped without injury.

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ORIGINAL:

It looked frighteningly like a wildfire from some vantage points, but it was actually a vehicle.

Emergency crews responded to a van burning behind the Salmon Arm Rec Centre, in the same area as the parking lot of the former Mino’s Restaurant.

The fire department covered the van in foam, but before the fire was completely extinguished big plumes of grey and black smoke were rising in the sky over the rec centre.

The air in the vicinity was putrid with the smell of burning rubber.

No word yet on cause or if anyone was injured.


@SalmonArm
marthawickett@saobserver.net

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Great plumes of smoke rose from a burning van behind the Salmon Arm Rec Centre on Friday night, July 27, looking like a much larger fire than it was.


Martha Wickett

About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.
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