Residents waited on the side of the road, some in bare feet and with blankets, as the Campbell River Fire Department investigated a fire in an apartment building across from Carihi on Sept. 9.
The alarm was going off in the building and fire chief Ian Baikie said that everyone got out safely and there were no injuries. Though there were initially reports of a resident in a wheelchair, upon investigation the fire crews found the resident wasn’t at home.
Baikie said that the fire originated in a dryer in the laundry room in the basement of the building. When the fire crews entered the building there was a lot of thick black smoke.
“Crews from both halls responded and did an excellent job of quickly containing the fire to the room of origin,” said deputy chief Chris Vrabel in a press release.
Baikie said though there was significant smoke damage in the common area, no-one had to spend the night away from their home.
An ambulance as well as the RCMP were also present. While crews were on scene, 4th avenue was closed to traffic as the nearest fire hydrant was up the hill on the corner of 4th and Dogwood.
The investigation found that the fire was due to a malfunction within the dryer.