Five tenants were displaced from their homes following a cooking fire in a rental house Tuesday.
The fire broke out shortly before 6:30 p.m. in the home at 4037 Ross Rd.
Tenants living on the main floor left food cooking on the stove unattended, said Capt. Ennis Mond, Nanaimo Fire Rescue fire prevention officer in an e-mail to the News Bulletin.
The resulting fire damaged the stove and kitchen wall, caused heavy smoke damage to the kitchen and moderate smoke damage throughout the main floor.
The woman and her two sons are now displaced from their home. Two other tenants were also displaced from a basement suite due to potential smoke issues.
The two smoke alarms on the main floor, one of which had been disconnected, were also not working, but the basement suite smoke alarm was functioning. Mond said the outcome could have been tragic if the fire occurred when the main floor tenants were sleeping. No injuries were reported and all tenants were assisted by the Nanaimo Emergency Program, but none of the tenants had contents insurance. The owner of the house has insurance and will have the building repaired.
This was the second fire caused by cooking in two. A cooking fire also displaced a family of three from their apartment Monday night. No one was injured and the smoke alarm was working in that incident.