A Tuesday evening apartment fire in James Bay temporarily gave Victoria a taste of life in other areas of the province and stretched the local fire department to its limits.
The fire forced the Victoria Fire Department to deploy its entire fleet of trucks as well as put the nearby Saanich Fire Department on standby. However, a couple of hours after the initial response, crews contained and extinguished the blaze.
“First, an engine hit it from the Michigan [street] side, knocked [the fire] down from the outside. Then, [we] transitioned to an interior attack,” said Battalion Chief Wayn Moody. “We had all of our trucks here… [and] we put Saanich on standby.”
The fire broke out in the third storey of a four-storey, 73-unit apartment building at 443 Superior Street around 6:00 pm. There’s no word yet on what ignited the flames.
“At this point, it’s undetermined,” Moody said on Tuesday evening. “We have investigators coming to the scene.”
All residents of the 73-unit building have been evacuated until further tests on the building are carried out.
Two units suffered fire damage while other suites were affected by smoke and water.
Luckily, injuries were minimal.
“There was somebody inside notifying people, knocking on doors, so we had the ambulance attend to him for smoke inhalation,” said Moody.
