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Fire crews battle large blaze at Courtenay hostel

Courtenay Fire Chief Don Bardonnex said nobody was injured
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The Cona Hostel in Courtenay caught fire Saturday morning. (Scott Stanfield/Comox Valley Record)

A fire broke out shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday at the Cona Hostel in Courtenay. Bystanders could be overheard saying flames were billowing out of second-floor windows.

Firefighters contained the blaze from each side of the building, which sits next to the Courtenay River by the 5th Street Bridge. Breathe Health Collective operates out of the ground floor on the Anderton Avenue side of the wood-frame building.

Courtenay Fire Chief Don Bardonnex said nobody was injured.

“All the occupants are out,” Bardonnex said at the scene. “ESS (Emergency Support Services) is taking care of the occupants.”

He said the fire started on the second floor ‘alpha side,’ which is the street side of the building.

“We had flames coming out of the alpha and the delta side on arrival. Crews knocked it down. It’s an old building so it takes a bit to get it out, but the knockdown was easy. We had 27 firefighters on scene…We also have Cumberland Fire, and our Station 1 doing a standby because we had multiple incidents happening at this time.”

It’s up to the insurance company to determine if the building is a writeoff.

The cause of the fire is not known at this time.

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