UPDATE: Fire deals 'significant' damage to Peachland house, owners and pets safe

(UPDATE: 9:10 p.m.) - The third Peachland house fire since mid-April caused significant damage to a house located on Desert Pines Avenue Tuesday night.

According to Peachland Fire Chief Dennis Craig, PFD received the call at 6:47 pm and responded with over 20 firefighters and all available equipment.

"First arriving crews noted that the fire was already through the roof of the structure on the back side, so it had already gotten up into the attic space — it made it a little bit of a difficult knockdown," Craig explained.

Fortunately, the homeowners, and their pets, were able to evacuate the house safely and are insured for damages.

While he could not state whether the house was a total loss, he did not that there was "significant damage to the house and anything not damaged by the fire has been damaged by smoke and water."

The fire is out and firefighters are cleaning up gear at the house, the specific location of which could not disclosed by PFD. A fire watch crew will remain at the scene for the next few hours to ensure that no hot spots resurface.

Fire investigators will be at the house tomorrow hoping to determine the cause of the fire, most likely directing their focus to the back portion of the structure. Craig said the fire appeared accidental in nature and is not currently considered suspicious.

(Original Story: 8:25 p.m.)

A house fire sparked in Peachland on Tuesday night, wrapping its roof in flames and prompting a response from local firefighters.

Dennis Eden, a Peachland resident, said he had been on a walk when he returned home to his house on Beach Avenue where his daughter saw smoke coming from a house up the hill. Neither are sure where the house on fire was located, but reports indicate it was on Desert Pines Avenue.

By the time the Eden family went to call the Fire Department, they could hear sirens approaching the area and were present at the fire shortly afterwards.

Eden captured a photo before the firefighters arrived and described what he saw to NowMedia.

"You could hear the sirens going, it took them a few minutes to get up there after the fire started. But the roof was pretty much all engulfed before they got there . . . it went up really fast," he explained. Eden commented on the abnormal amount of house fires over the summer season this year, thankful that wildfires had not been as active and added to the issue.

"When you look at it now you can look right through, it's like even the back wall was gone."

Eden wasn't sure when the fire started, but saw it at around 7 p.m. He said the fire appears to have been snuffed out and looks to be in mop up stages.

NowMedia has reached out to Peachland Fire Department for more information including how the fire began.