Nanaimo Fire Rescue is puzzling out the cause of a fire that gutted a vacant house Tuesday.
Firefighters found the interior of the house at 2021 Northfield Rd. fully engulfed in flames when they arrived at about 11 p.m.
Ennis Mond, fire prevention officer, who was investigating the scene Wednesday morning, said no one was in the house when firefighters arrived and no one was injured.
The fire appeared, upon initial inspection, to have started in a central room of the home, but no cause had been determined. Mond estimated the house to be about 80 to 100 years old.
The house was scheduled for demolition and is located in an area planned for redevelopment. A rezoning application notice, to change the property from single dwelling residential to row housing, is posted in the home’s front yard.
Mond said the house has been vacant for at least one year and was being looked after by a trust company, but electricity was still supplied to the building prior to the fire. He did not know when the trust company last inspected the property.