Roots rock icons Blackie and the Rodeo Kings headed to Cowichan Theatre T.W. Paterson’s Chronicles: Murder most foul! comes to Nanaimo, 1887
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Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Duncan apartment fire forces 100 out KEVIN ROTHBAUER CITIZEN
More than 100 residents were left wondering when they could return to their homes after a fire in a Dobson Road apartment complex on Sunday afternoon. The blaze, which broke out on the third floor of the south end of Parkland Place shortly after 3 p.m. and spread up to the fourth floor, was put down quickly by Duncan and South End firefighters. The entire structure was evacuated, however, and residents were staying with family or friends, or in emergency facilities set up by the Cowichan Valley Regional District at the Island Savings Centre. “ We d i d a q u i c k k n o c k down,” Duncan Fire Chief Mike McKinlay said. “It was pretty well under control 35 minutes after we got there. After that it was a matter of dealing with hot spots and getting the smoke out.” There was initial concern that some individuals were trapped in the complex, but when all was said and done, no residents were injured. “We called for mutual aid from North Cowichan because of the size of the building and because people were phoning and saying people were still inside,” McKinlay related. The only person hurt turned out to be a firefighter who was bitten by a dog he was trying to rescue. The building is home to many animals, some of whom made it out along with the human residents, some of whom were rescued by firefighters, and some who remained inside awaiting the
Two men killed in separate crashes KEVIN ROTHBAUER CITIZEN
A Duncan firefighter gets instructions as he works to put down flames in a Dobson Road apartment complex. For more photos from the fire, scan this image with the Layar app on your smart phone or go to www.cowichanvalleycitizen.com [KEVIN ROTHBAUER/CITIZEN] return of their human families. Resident Frank Stevens stood outside the building holding a scared black and white cat named Doots. The fire started just down the hall from his suite, he said,
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and he managed to get both his cats out. False alarms aren’t uncommon at Parkland Place, but Stevens said he knew right away this was a real one. “Someone said, ‘Oh, it’s just
somebody smoking under the smoke alarm again,’” he said. “But I said, ‘No, that’s the alarm in the hall. It’s a real fire.” See One resident • page 4
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Two drivers were killed in separate incidents on Cowichan Valley roads last Thursday. Miles Alexander Phillips, a 48-year-old Duncan man, died on Thursday morning after his Toyota Corolla lost control and struck a tree on Telegraph Road. RCMP from both the North Cowichan/ Duncan and Shawnigan Lake detachments were called to the single-vehicle collision shortly after 11 a.m. “The driver was the only occupant of the vehicle, and was pronounced deceased at the scene,” Cpl. Jon Stuart of the North Cowichan/ Duncan detachment reported. The road was closed for several hours while the collision was investigated, with assistance from the BC Coroner’s Service and a traffic scene reconstructionist. The cause remains under investigation. Phillips was heavily involved in the community, serving on the boards of Cowichan Energy Alternatives, the West Coast Men’s Support Society, the Cowichan Bio-Diesel Co-op, the Mankind Project, Volunteer Cowichan, and See Miles Phillips • page 3
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