Abbotsford firefighters were able to quell a blaze in a Yale Road outbuilding Monday afternoon before the flames could spread to a house just feet away.
The fire destroyed the shed, but caused no injuries. Yale Road was closed as crews responded to the call.
The owner of the house, Louis Brooks, told the News he had been allowing a homeless man to live in the building. Brooks said the man left a candle burning while he worked in the yard when the fire began.
The men tried to use a hose to quell the growing fire, but found that it was frozen and useless.
"If the hose wasn't frozen, we might have been able to get it out," Brooks said.
Firefighters, though, soon arrived on the scene and were able to stop the flames from leaping to the house.
Jake Pelletier and his son Luc were driving up Yale Road when they saw the fire. Fire crews arrived on the scene just as "the flames were starting to rage," Jake said.