Fire crews are investigating after two separate blazes broke out at the same Port Coquitlam home about 12 hours apart over the weekend.
The first incident at the Sefton Street property occurred shortly after 2 p.m. on Saturday and was likely caused by candles in the basement, according to Fire Chief Nick Delmonico.
Flames quickly moved throughout the ground floor and scorched the outside of the building, doing significant damage to the home, he added.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze and boarded up the property but were called back later that evening when another fire broke out on the second floor of the home.
Someone had entered the home between the two calls and Delmonico said investigators are treating the second fire as suspicious.
"The front door had been broken into after the first fire," he said. "It was a little bit suspicious."
Delmonico added that while it is possible that the flames were not completely extinguished after the first fire, it is unlikely. Crews were on scene within minutes, he said, flooding the home with water and dousing hot spots.
Because of the damage sustained from the first blaze, he said investigators had a difficult time determining the source of the flames.
"It is much harder," he said. "The first fire was in undamaged materials, so it is easy to trace it back."
The home sustained significant damage, with much of the second floor torched in the second blaze. Delmonico said that renovating the home would be difficult and it is possible that the structure may need to be completely torn down.
The incident will now be turned over to the insurance company for further investigation.
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