Jasmine Totzke wants to thank firefighters from North Cowichan for quickly dealing with a large fire early Sunday morning on Beverly Street.

Totzke, who works as a healthcare assistant at The Hamlets at Duncan, was working a night shift and heard sirens outside at approximately 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 27.

She said her jaw dropped when she stepped outside on a balcony and saw flames shooting skyward just feet away from the Esso gas station on Beverly Street, in a storage area on the ICONIX Waterworks property, and firefighters trying to contain it.

鈥淎pproximately five minutes later, two more fire trucks showed up to help tackle the blaze and make sure that the Esso gas pumps didn鈥檛 ignite,鈥� Totzke said.

鈥淚 was at a loss of words, I thought to myself 鈥榳hat if those pumps do ignite.鈥� The smallest spark could have caused a fatal accident. The fire was under control by 3:12 am. It was still smoking, although there were no visible flames from where I was standing.鈥�

Totzke said that with all of the fires currently burning in B.C, and how dry it is currently on Vancouver Island, this fire could have turned out much worse if it wasn鈥檛 for the quick attention it received from the North Cowichan fire department.

鈥淭hank you to the brave men and women who put their own lives at risk to make sure that everyone in the area was safe that night,鈥� she said.

North Cowichan assistant fire chief Jason de Jong said the fire department had three fire trucks on scene, with two from the South End station and one from the Maple Bay station, with a total of 15 firefighters.

He confirmed that the fire crews were on scene for a total of two hours.

A spokesperson for ICONIX Waterworks said the fire burned approximately $250,000 worth of product.

鈥淏ut luckily, [there was] no structure damage,鈥� they said.

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