A top-floor suite at a Vic West character home is uninhabitable today after a coil heater overloaded an extension cord.
Victoria fire crews were called to the home at 515 Wilson St. on Wednesday morning around 6:45 a.m.
Inside, they found a man struggling to put out a hallway fire that was spreading from the carpet up the walls of his suite. The man had been continuously running a heater, putting an extension cord under constant load, said Battalion Chief Mike Stark.
"The remaining occupants of the building had not been alerted to the fire and had not evacuated the building prior to Fire Department arrival," Stark said. "The suite did not have a working smoke alarm."
Stark reminds residents that smoke alarms are a requirement of the B.C. Building Code and City of Victoria bylaws.