If you smell gas near your furnace in Victoria-Fraserview, get everyone outside first and call FortisBC before touching anything electrical.
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Quick answer
A gas smell near a furnace means you leave the house immediately, do not flip any light switches or use your phone inside, and call FortisBC at 1-800-663-9911 once you are outside. Do not attempt to find or fix the leak yourself. Once the gas utility and, if needed, a licensed gas fitter have confirmed it is safe, a technician can trace the cause, whether that is a loose fitting, a failed valve seal, or a cracked heat exchanger.
Need a licensed gas fitter for your gas furnace? Call CANRO at (604) 359-1081 — residential natural-gas heating and hot water across Metro Vancouver since 1999.
Get everyone, including pets, out of the house right away. Don't stop to open windows, don't turn on a fan, and don't flip any switches on your way out, including the light in the hallway or the garage door opener, since an electrical spark near a gas leak is exactly the risk you're trying to avoid.
Once you're outside and at a safe distance, call FortisBC at 1-800-663-9911. They will walk you through next steps and dispatch someone to check the gas supply. If you smell gas and hear hissing or see visible damage to a line, that call is even more urgent.
A lot of homes in this part of East Vancouver have furnaces and gas meters in a basement that's also been finished or partly converted into a suite over the years. That means the mechanical room may share a wall with a bedroom or living space, so a leak doesn't stay isolated the way it might in a wide-open utility room. If your basement was renovated after the furnace was installed, it's worth knowing exactly where the gas shutoff valve is located before you ever need it.
Any of these needs a licensed gas fitter to diagnose safely. A gas smell is never something to trace by sniffing around the furnace yourself or by tightening a fitting you're not sure about.
Once it's safe to go back in, the technician pressure-tests the gas line, inspects every connection point from the meter to the furnace, and checks the heat exchanger and burner assembly for cracks or corrosion. If the furnace is older and the exchanger is compromised, replacement is usually the safer path rather than a repair, since a cracked exchanger isn't something that gets patched.
You'll get a plain explanation of what was found, what was fixed or needs replacing, and whether the furnace is safe to run again before the technician leaves.
Once the immediate cause is fixed, it's worth asking the technician whether anything about the furnace's age or install history makes a repeat issue more likely. A furnace nearing the end of its practical service life, or one that's had loose fittings found more than once, may point toward a bigger conversation about replacement rather than treating each incident as unrelated.
If your Victoria-Fraserview home has had recent work done nearby, whether a basement suite renovation or plumbing changes, mention that to the technician, since disturbed piping near a mechanical room is a common and easily overlooked contributor to a loose connection later showing up as a gas smell.
Safety note
Leave the home immediately if you smell gas, do not use switches, phones, or lighters inside, and call FortisBC at 1-800-663-9911 from a safe distance outside. Only a Technical Safety BC licensed gas fitter should inspect or repair a gas furnace; CANRO holds gas licence LGA0043870.
No. Leave the house and call FortisBC. Investigating a suspected gas leak yourself, even briefly, risks ignition and delays getting the right people on site.
FortisBC treats gas smell reports as urgent and dispatches accordingly, but exact response times vary; the important step is calling right away rather than waiting to see if the smell clears.
Yes. A leaking valve or fitting can release gas whether or not the burner is firing, which is why the smell alone is the signal to act, not whether the furnace is currently on.
No, don't stop to open windows or do anything else inside. Leave first, then call from outside once you're at a safe distance.
A licensed gas fitter can then inspect the furnace and gas line to find and repair the actual source, since FortisBC secures the supply but doesn't repair appliance-side connections.
Tell them to leave immediately, avoid switches, and call FortisBC from outside, exactly as you would if you were there yourself.
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