Tenants of a commercial building on Bastion Street were greeted to the smell of smoke and damage around the front entrance of their workplace when they arrived to work this morning.
Nanaimo Fire Rescue responded at about 7:30 a.m. on Monday, March 4, to a fire resulting from people allegedly camping at the building’s entrance.
“Basically, there was an encampment in the doorway overnight and it looks like … some little candle or some drug paraphernalia started the wall on fire and it burned up the wall and got the building full of smoke and some minor fire damage,” said Stu Kenning, Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant chief.
He said the fire triggered the building’s alarm so any tenants in there at that time were alerted to the fire.
No injuries were reported and tenants are back in the building, Kenning said.
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