A suspicious house fire on Northfield Road shut down both lanes of traffic on the busy street for just over an hour Thursday morning.
Crews were called to a vacant rental house at about 5:45 a.m. Thursday.
Ennis Mond, fire investigator with Nanaimo Fire Rescue, said fire damage was contained to a corner bedroom in the three-bedroom rental house, as well as a bit of the roof above the bedroom.
He said some tenants moved out of the place last week and the owners, who live in Vancouver, had been in after that to clean it up and get it ready for the next tenants, who were supposed to move in shortly.
Mond would not release any further details about the fire.
"It's a suspicious fire and the investigation has been turned over to the RCMP," he said.