Did a meteor spark a fire in a chalet on Mount Washington? - BERITAJA

A chalet connected Mount Washington was destroyed by a fast-moving occurrence connected Tuesday night.

Flames were spotted conscionable aft midnight successful the unoccupied location connected Fosters Avenue.

“Started proceeding immoderate noises, assuming now that was each of the solid of the windows breaking,” witnesser Jamie Laidler told BERITAJA.

Another witness, Cam Henderson, said that by the clip the group made their measurement toward the fire, the building was afloat engulfed.

However, flames were not the only point lighting up the entity connected Wednesday night.

Henderson said that soon aft midnight, location was a agleam bluish flash successful the sky.

“There is grounds now that location was a meteor past nighttime astatine the aforesaid time,” Laidler added.

According to the American Meteor Society, the fireball was reported by hundreds of eyewitnesses astatine 12:12 a.m. Pacific time.

Minutes later, the fistful of group who happened to beryllium staying connected Mount Washington spotted the flames successful the unoccupied chalet.

They called 911.

“The tile was afloat engulfed,” occurrence skipper Chris Hounsell told BERITAJA.

“Shortly aft that, the tile collapsed successful connected the building and we started protecting the 2 structures adjacent to it for vulnerability protection.”

It is not the first clip flames person ripped done the alpine resort.

In March 2020, a ample occurrence destroyed different chalet and 8 group had to escape.

In 2015, different blaze destroyed 3 further structures, underscoring the request for occurrence protection connected the mountain.

The Comox Valley Regional District has since purchased spot for a dedicated occurrence hallway that is group to unfastened later this year.

“We do person about a fistful of firefighters that do unrecorded up present year-round,” Hounsell added.

“And we besides person partnerships pinch Oyster River and Merville and they do respond arsenic well.”

It is not 100 per cent clear that the meteor really caused the fire, but the origin is still nether investigation.