{"id":6954,"date":"2012-06-05T22:53:02","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T05:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=6954"},"modified":"2017-12-17T12:09:57","modified_gmt":"2017-12-17T19:09:57","slug":"mission-house-fire-started-around-meter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=6954","title":{"rendered":"Mission house fire started around meter"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>by\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.missioncityrecord.com\/staff_profiles\/124656378.html\">Adrian MacNair &#8211; Mission City Record<\/a><\/li>\n<li>posted\u00a0Jul 4, 2012\u00a0at\u00a06:00 PM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"storyBody\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?page_id=3514\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/mission2.jpg\" width=\"680\" height=\"445\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Trish Regan and her children are looking for permanent accommodations after a house fire destroyed her home and severely damaged the neighbour\u2019s residence.\u00a0<em style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">\u2014\u00a0Image Credit: Adrian MacNair Photo<\/em><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>A fire that originated around a smart meter has left two Mission families homeless and their possessions destroyed, but BC Hydro and the fire chief say the blaze was not caused by the meter.<\/p>\n<p>Burdock Street\u2019s Trish Regan says the fire started June 15, a day after the new meter was installed.<\/p>\n<p>She was at work when the installer came to the home, and Trish\u2019s daughter Kylina said the technician tried to install it three different ways before he left.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn terms of the fire, we can definitely confirm the origin of the fire. The burn patterns all originate where the housing for the smart meter sits. And quite clearly it\u2019s not the smart meter,\u201d said Mission Fire\/Rescue Chief Ian Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n<p>Fiona Taylor, BC Hydro project officer for the Smart Metering program, said the company replaces 35,000-45,000 meters every year of both old and smart meters, and have found what is termed \u201cmeter base failures\u201d in 0.05 per cent of cases, which hydro claims is the cause of the Mission fire.<\/p>\n<p>The base is a homeowner asset usually installed by the original developer of the home to which an electricity company can connect, she explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really feel for the customer. I mean, that\u2019s a difficult situation, it\u2019s pretty horrific, so we certainly appreciate that this is a stressful time,\u201d said Taylor.<\/p>\n<p>Keith Anderson, BC Hydro\u2019s director of deployment of the Smart Metering program, said the BC Hydro worker who installed the meter is considered a quality and experienced technician. He said the technician checked for any faulty wiring or other problems during installation but found none.<\/p>\n<p>Of the 1.35 million meters BC Hydro has installed, Anderson said technicians have discovered about 1,000 meter base failures. Of those, 11 were considered \u201csignificant electrical incidents,\u201d and three resulted in smoke or fires, however the technician was on the scene during each of those times.<\/p>\n<p>Anderson said this is the first time a fire has started from a meter base failure after a smart meter install.<\/p>\n<p>The night of the fire, Trish was sleeping and Kylina was watching TV when she thought she heard firecrackers. She went outside and saw a fire creeping up the wall.<\/p>\n<p>Trish tried to put the fire out with a garden hose, but the heat was too intense.<\/p>\n<p>The fire spread from the wall to the cars and the gasoline further fueled the flames. She wanted to move her cars from the side of the house but by that time electrical wires had fallen over the vehicles. She lost a Ford F-150, Jeep Grand Cherokee and a 1976 Land Cruiser as a result. The fire then moved to the garage and the attic, and eventually spread to her neighbours\u2019 home, occupied by five people.<\/p>\n<p>At the height of the inferno, the flames were 65 feet high and spectators could feel the heat from 14 Avenue.<\/p>\n<p>The blow is doubly difficult for Trish, who lost her husband Kenneth two-and-a-half years ago in a car accident. She\u2019s been living on the life insurance ever since, with her 20-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son, while making extra money as a house and office cleaner. But her equipment was destroyed and she is now unable to work.<\/p>\n<p>Trish is now renting a house for $2,500 a month that\u2019s being paid for by her insurance company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been waiting patiently for BC Hydro to contact me and they haven\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hydro\u2019s Taylor said an employee checked to ensure the families were safe and put up in a hotel, but have had to wait for the investigation to end before contacting anyone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll we can do is provide facts and provide the expertise that comes from our day jobs, which is providing safe and secure electricity to our customers,\u201d said Taylor.<\/p>\n<p>A trust fund has been set up for the Regan family at Canada Trust. You can contact the family through the \u201cRegan Family Fire Support\u201d page on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.missioncityrecord.com\/news\/161380275.html\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">http:\/\/www.missioncityrecord.com\/news\/161380275.html<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-q9tctiqippw\" style=\"max-width:900px;\" class=\"arve\">\n<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n<div style=\"aspect-ratio:500\/281\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:56.200000%\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer &apos;none&apos;;autoplay &apos;none&apos;;bluetooth &apos;none&apos;;browsing-topics &apos;none&apos;;camera &apos;none&apos;;clipboard-read &apos;none&apos;;clipboard-write;display-capture &apos;none&apos;;encrypted-media &apos;none&apos;;gamepad &apos;none&apos;;geolocation &apos;none&apos;;gyroscope &apos;none&apos;;hid &apos;none&apos;;identity-credentials-get &apos;none&apos;;idle-detection &apos;none&apos;;keyboard-map &apos;none&apos;;local-fonts;magnetometer &apos;none&apos;;microphone &apos;none&apos;;midi &apos;none&apos;;otp-credentials &apos;none&apos;;payment &apos;none&apos;;picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create &apos;none&apos;;publickey-credentials-get &apos;none&apos;;screen-wake-lock &apos;none&apos;;serial &apos;none&apos;;summarizer &apos;none&apos;;sync-xhr;usb &apos;none&apos;;web-share;window-management &apos;none&apos;;xr-spatial-tracking &apos;none&apos;;\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-q9tctiqippw\" data-lenis-prevent=\"\" data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/Q9TcTIqipPw?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"505.8\" loading=\"lazy\" name=\"\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/Q9TcTIqipPw?feature=oembed&#038;iv_load_policy=3&#038;modestbranding=1&#038;rel=0&#038;autohide=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autoplay=0\" title=\"\" width=\"900\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"http:\\\/\\\/schema.org\\\/\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/emrabc.ca\\\/?p=6954#arve-youtube-q9tctiqippw\",\"type\":\"VideoObject\",\"embedURL\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\\\/embed\\\/Q9TcTIqipPw?feature=oembed&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&autohide=1&playsinline=0&autoplay=0\"}<\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/missionfire.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-12194\" alt=\"missionfire\" src=\"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/missionfire-1024x583.jpg\" width=\"717\" height=\"408\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/missionfire-1024x583.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/missionfire-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/missionfire.jpg 1352w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 717px) 100vw, 717px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0\u00a0Adrian MacNair &#8211; Mission City Record posted\u00a0Jul 4, 2012\u00a0at\u00a06:00 PM &nbsp; Trish Regan and her children are looking for permanent accommodations after a house fire destroyed her home and severely damaged the neighbour\u2019s residence.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Image Credit: Adrian MacNair Photo A fire that originated around a smart meter has left two Mission families homeless and their possessions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,126,3,226,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bchydro","category-fire","category-health_and_safety","category-mission","category-smart-meter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6954"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12196,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6954\/revisions\/12196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}