This residential fire in Maple Ridge B.C. started on Wednesday September 26th 2012 around 4 PM.

The fire was caused by a propane torch that was left on and unattended, which a worker was using to apply a tar moisture seal to the deck on the front of the house. It spread to 5 houses, burning 4 completely to the ground.

The first 3 burned in 20 minutes. The house on the left had just been occupied by the new owners 3 days prior to the fire. Building 2 houses this size would take us 9 to 10 days with a crew of 6 to 8. After building so many, it was really fascinating to see them come down in 5 minutes!

It was incredible and unbelievable to watch this happening in front of me. Once the first house started to heat up the one to it's right a realization came to me: "There is nothing stopping this fire from catching on and burning the next one, and the next one, and the next one..." As the first house burned, the heat grew more and more intense, and the only way I could film was to position myself behind a pile of rocks. For most of the 40 minutes I had to hold my arm in front of my face because I could feel the heat burning it. At one point in the video you can hear someone telling me that my face is really red.

Standing there watching the houses go from freshly framed, to bellowing smoke, then flames, and then the entire house transformed from light wood colour into a bright burning orange glow outlining all of the structure and collapse floor after floor and then continue on to the next building to repeat its destructive pattern... completely consumed me with awe.