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Champlain Heights fire leaves home with extensive damage

A house fire in Vancouver Saturday night caused extensive damage to a house in the Champlain Heights area.

Crews were called around 9:00 p.m. PT after neighbours reported seeing smoke and flames coming from the two-storey house on East 50th Avenue near Tyne Street.

Fire officials said they were told a single man lived inside the house, but they were not able to find him.

"We went in with a primary search, then a secondary search with another team," said Battalion Chief Steve Duncan with Vancouver Fire.

"Subsequent searches found nobody, which is great."

Firefighting hazards

Duncan said fire crews had trouble due to hoarding conditions inside the house, as well as a backdraft.

"With the backdraft situation ... it's an auto-igniting of gasses and stuff like that," he said.

"When it sits there dormant ... it just ignites, it blows up. Very dangerous."

The fire was contained to the house, which has extensive damage.

The cause is under investigation.