The Duncan fire which claimed the lives of two children earlier this month took place at a restricted foster home, Public Eye has learned. In an interview, the executive director of Lalum utul Smun eem Child and Family Services also confirmed one of the children who died was in foster care at the time of the blaze. Lise Haddock explained her agency placed the child and two others in the home - the residence of their biological grandmother - in mid-July. Prior to that placement, a home study had been done to assess the grandmother's ability to care for the children, as well as the physical state of the home.

Ms. Haddock says the agency followed "the ministry's foster home standards, which address the importance and need for fire alarms and fire extinguishers." According to the The Cowichan Valley Citizen 's Andrea Rondeau, an investigation by British Columbia Fire Commissioner David Hodgins's has concluded the fire started in "the area of a clothes dryer and spread through furnace ductwork."