N E W
SATURDAY, JULY 17, 2010
W E S T M I N S T E R
INSIDE FEATURE: For the love of the arts ◗P13
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◗ FIRE
Home hit by blaze Fire caused about $50,000 in damage BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
A young family was fortunate not to be at home when a fire broke out in their Glenbrook North residence. Fire crews attended a home in the 800-block of Fourth Street about 8:45 p.m. on Thursday, July 8. The fire is estimated to have caused about $50,000 damage. “Crews rolled up. Apparently it just looked like a little bit of smoke coming out of the chimney,” said fire inspector Brent Joel. “Within a few minutes there was more smoke coming out under the eaves and doors.” Firefighters did a 360-degree walk around the house to plan their attack. “They noticed that all the windows were black in the basement and main floor,” he said. “They were starting to crack in the frames. It means there is fire inside, it’s heating up pretty good.” Crews decided to go in the back door of the basement and pop out a front basement window, which would allow the smoke, heat and gases to vent out. “They couldn’t see a thing because of the smoke,” Joel said of firefighters moving through the basement to seek the source ◗Fire Page 8
Larry Wright/THE RECORD
The constant gardener: Claude LeDoux in the garden of his West End home – the first featured garden in our Urban Oases series.
A growing work of art
The backyards and patios of New Westminster are filled with them – those gardens and greenspaces that provide a haven from the hustle and bustle of city life. This summer, we’re going out to find them and share them with you. In this issue, Theresa McManus pays a call on Claude LeDoux.
C
laude LeDoux has created an urban oasis using many of the tricks of the trade he’s learned during a lengthy gardening career. Since buying their West End home in 1996, LeDoux and Adrian Michielsen have renovated the 1908 house and created an
amazing garden where none previously existed. “It’s absolutely day and night,” he said. “It is so full and lush. I am finally getting it to what I wanted it to be. It has so many openings and gaps.” LeDoux, who is the City of New Westminster’s horticulture manager, knows a thing or two about gardening. Michielsen, an engineer, grew up on a farm. Rather than randomly planting, they developed a vision for their yard. “I designed it out, laid it out. We have been working on it for about 15 years,” LeDoux said. “When you have patience you get to work to the vision of what you are
trying to do. You can assemble the things you need slowly.” Like his house, LeDoux’s garden is dramatically different today than it was a decade ago. The garden has a solid foundation that many gardens don’t necessarily have – drainage and irrigation systems. Pathways were planned, rather than randomly placed in the yard. “It’s never done. The garden is complete – all the hardscapes,” LeDoux said about paths that lead to various parts of the garden. “All I do now is if I want to change some of the garden, I move things around.”
Urban Oases
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