Fire crews responded last Friday night to reports of a possible fire at the new Campbell River hospital site.
Four fire trucks and 17 firefighters attended the scene.
“It’s one of our major buildings, so we don’t fool around,” Fire Chief Ian Baikie said.
Firefighters walked along the roof and scoured the inside of the building by flashlight after receiving a call from a resident living nearby that there was smoke coming up from behind the large crane on the construction site and an odour of burning plastic.
Baikie said it took awhile for crews to go through the large building, but didn’t find anything other than some heaters that were in use which he said could have produced the smokey smell.
“We’re not sure if it was something in there or if it was someone in the area,” Baikie said. “We smelled burning in the area so it could have been someone burning something inappropriate.”
Fire crews cleared the scene around 10:30 p.m. after Baikie said firefighters were “absolutely” certain there was no fire in the building.
The new $274.5 million hospital has been under construction since last year and is expected to open in late 2017. The Mirror reported last Friday that construction has been on time and on budget and is a couple of weeks ahead of the new hospital being built in the Comox Valley.
The new 95-bed hospital is being built next to the existing hospital.