Tamara Amos, her husband, three children, father and two dogs are safe after a fire threatened their rented home on Spencer Street in Port Alberni this afternoon (July 31, 2013).
"My two daughters came in screaming, crying, 'the garage is on fire,'" Amos said while watching fire crews defend the rest of her home.
Her husband managed to pull some of the family's possessions out of the house before it caught fire, including items for an infant.
Port Alberni Fire chief Tim Pley said crews responded to a call of a garage fire. When they arrived the garage was fully involved and the fire had jumped to the back of the house as well as a tall tree in behind the garage.
"We're concerned it would spread to neighbouring structures," he said. Houses in the neighbourhood are closeknit, but nothing else had caught fire.
Pley said crews will be at the scene "for quite awhile."
Amos and her family are currently renting the home. It was not known whether they are insured.