Nanaimo Fire Rescue say working smoke alarms helped alert tenants to a fire in a bathroom that could have been worse.
Crews were called out to a reported structure fire in the 600 block of Bowen Road on Wednesday, Aug. 13, at 11:45 a.m.
Alan Millbank, fire prevention officer with Nanaimo Fire Rescue, said the fire appears to have been caused by a cigarette butt that ignited a bathroom wastebasket. He said a downstairs tenant at the house threw the wastebasket into the shower and an upstairs tenant used a fire extinguisher.
Occupants were temporarily displaced from the basement suite.
The city shared safety messages about the importance of having working smoke alarms and properly extinguishing cigarettes.
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