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Deadly Victoria blaze caused by hookah pipe: fire chief <br />Deadly Victoria blaze caused <br />pipe: fire chief <br />Last Updated: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 ~ 5:50 PM ET <br />CBC News <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />by hookah <br />A hookah pipe caused a fire that claimed the lives of two young women in Victoria in the early morning <br />of Aug. 6, Victoria's fire chief says. <br />Fire Chief Doug Angrove said an investigation has concluded the group of university students had been <br />smoking tobacco from the water pipe on the evening of Aug. 5. <br />Some time after midnight, the hookah pipe tipped over and a smouldering charcoal ember fell onto a <br />couch, Angrove said. <br />That led to a fire so intense that it peeled aluminum siding off the duplex. <br />Chelsea Elizabeth Robinson, 22, and Brenna Jacklyn Innes, 21, died from smoke inhalation when the <br />two-story duplex caught fire while they were sleeping. <br />Angrove said smoking tobacco from a hookah pipe has become a <br />popular pastime among young urbanites. <br />"This is the first fire I am aware of as a result of these pipes," said <br />Angrove. "It is something we haven't come across before and this was a <br />terrible way to learn more about them." <br />Angrove said he's concerned the unstable design of many hookah pipes <br />could lead to other fires. <br />Upon further investigation into the unstable design of the pipe, the <br />slow- and long-burning characteristics of the charcoal and the growing <br />popularity, we are extremely concerned about the fire potential here." <br />Although there was a smoke alarm in the duplex, it appears it was not <br />working at the time of the fire, said Angrove. <br />The fire broke out in the duplex in the 800 block of Villance Street in <br />the northwest of the city at about 4:30 a.m. PT Aug. 6. By the time fire <br />crews arrived, half of the duplex was engulfed in flames. <br />The two women who died, students from the University of Victoria, <br />were visiting other university students at the duplex. One was found on <br />the ground floor, the other in an upstairs bathroom. <br />Three young men escaped by jumping out of windows. Two others <br />were badly burned. <br />EXHIBIT C <br />http://www.cbc.ca/Canada/briths-columbia/sto~~11.~~1 /bc-hookahfire.html 1 /28/2008 <br />