A Burnaby man suffered burns to his chest, face and back on Wednesday afternoon during a house fire just south of the Royal Oak SkyTrain station.

According to Burnaby Fire Department assistant chief Rick Weir, fire crews responded to the fire at the one-storey, single-family house with a crawl space just after 3 p.m.

The call became a two-alarm response immediately and firefighters discovered a resident, who was suffering from burns to approximately 40 per cent of his body.

"We had 30 people and nine pieces of equipment attend to the scene," said Weir. "There was a lot of smoke, and we were trying to get water on it as quickly as possible."

Firefighters were on the scene for more than three hours, with traffic being snarled along Royal Oak Avenue. SkyTrain commuters also got a bird's-eye view of the incident.

"The guys did a good job keeping the fire contained to the original building," said Weir.

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