Photo: Contributed - Skylar Noevack

A pottery kiln may be to blame for a large structure fire early Friday in Penticton.

Fire crews were called to the structure fire at 4:30 a.m. on Jonathan Drive in the West Bench area of Penticton.

“As we left the hall, we could see a big red glow up on the hillside there,” says Fire Capt. Tom Smith. “As we got there, we found the east side of a detached building, a garage, fully involved. One of the homeowners had an area with a kiln that was actually on fire at the same time.”

While fire crews suspect the fire started in the kiln, Smith says it still needs to be fully investigated.

“It started in that area, on the outside of the structure, and then got up into the roof section of the structure. We basically had to pull the whole ceiling down to put the fire out.”

He says the detached building was about 1,000 square feet and had a double garage below, a living area above, a pottery room with a kiln and a separate showroom where the owner displayed her pottery.

Fortunately, the fire did not spread to the main home and both homeowners were able to get away from the blaze safely before crews arrived.

Smith says they were able to knock down the majority of the fire within 20 minutes and took about two hours to completely pull the ceiling down and put the fire out.