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Fire in Langford home tagged for demolition sparks investigation

Fire was limited to first floor of empty house
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A Wednesday night fire at an empty house in Langford is under investigation. (Nina Grossman/News Staff)

A fire in a Langford house scheduled for demolition is under investigation.

Langford Fire Rescue was called to a structure at West Shore Parkway and Langshire Road around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday evening for reports of smoke.

Crews arrived to find a fire at the back of the structure on the first floor. Once a single-family home, the house is in an area under redevelopment, said Scott Davidson, Langford deputy fire chief.

“The house is basically due for demolishing,” he said. “There is no power … it’s suspicious in nature.”

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The structure is some distance from main roads, making access a challenge for firefighters, who had to stretch a line of hoses from Langshire Road to the fire. View Royal and Colwood fire departments assisted.

“We sent a crew in to extinguish remaining hot spots,” he said. “And we sent people in to make sure there wasn’t anybody inside.”

No one was inside the structure when crews arrived and there were no injuries. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Davidson said houses such as this one are often used for training fire crews but otherwise fires in empty structures are “few and far between.”

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