Langford apartment fire leaves several units uninhabitable

An apartment fire in Langford prompted a response from several fire departments in the West Shore. 

Fire Chief Chris Aubrey told Victoria Buzz that the fire occurred at an older apartment building on Peatt Road and Goldstream Avenue, with calls coming into Langford Fire Rescue at around 2:10 p.m. on Monday, May 11th. 

Two engines and two ladder units responded, with firefighters from Colwood and View Royal also attending the call. 

Chief Aubrey says that there was smoke coming from a third floor residential unit, and could be seen coming from the balcony of the home. 

“Its a restored older building so it’s not sprinklered, so crews had to run lines from the truck into the building and they were able to make entry into the suite of origin,” he explained. 

“We found a fairly decent fire inside, but we were able to knock it down.”

He added that there was quite a bit of smoke on the third floor so crews had to enter the other third floor suites to ensure there were no remaining occupants. 

Fortunately, everyone was able to evacuate the building promptly when the alarm went off prior to firefighters’ arrival. There were no injuries. 

“There were a couple of suites that are not habitable, so we had ESS, our Emergency Support Services, take care of a number of the suites on the third floor,” Chief Aubrey continued. 

The unit the fire originated from is one of the uninhabitable units, and there are three others that were impacted by smoke damage. 

“We do our best to clear the smoke but that stuff kind of sticks around.”

Peatt Road was closed while the fire was extinguished and crews were on site helping residents, but reopened at around 5:30 p.m.

All first floor commercial tenants were able to get back in as of Tuesday morning, while residential tenants whose units were undamaged were able to get back into their homes shortly after the building was deemed safe. 

Of note, the individual whose apartment was the source of the fire was not home at the time. 

Chief Aubrey says that while the fire is still under investigation, early evidence suggests it was an accidental fire.