Photo: CTV Vancouver

A fire that started in a garage spread through a home in Surrey in about a minute.

The blaze began shortly before 3 p.m. on Friday at a two-storey home on August Drive, in the area of the Fraser Highway and 88 Avenue.

It was sparked in the garage as a resident was cleaning tools with isopropanol alcohol.

The resident, a man, was able to get out quickly and move his dog and his truck to safety, witnesses said. The flames damaged another car and the fire quickly spread upstairs.

"Right away it was billowing smoke," said witness Mike Mendonca.

"It was already at the second storey, the siding was already burned off. It took about maybe 60 seconds."

Two neighbours rushed over and tried to put out the fire with small buckets of water, but were unsuccessful. 

Mendonca said firefighters arrived within minutes, but the fire was already fully involved.

"By the time they got here, half that house was burned down," he said.

Fortunately the home's other occupant was at work, and no one was injured in the blaze.

Firefighters were able to get the blaze under control before it spread to other buildings.

"The outcome was very good due to the severity of the fire and everything," Zecchel said.

"There was nobody injured, there was no other surrounding buildings involved so at this point here we're fairly happy. It was a quick knock-down by the crews."

-with files from CTV Vancouver