Man taken to hospital after Courtenay motel fire destroys supportive housing units
An early morning fire Tuesday has destroyed a portion of a motel in Courtenay, B.C., used for supportive housing.
Crews were called to the Travelodge Motel shortly after 3 a.m. and found fire coming out of two upper-floor units when they arrived.
“Within two minutes it was all gone, the roof, everything was just flames,” says Amber Hiltz, a tenant at the motel.
Hiltz says people living in the motel were alerted to the fire by one of the occupants just prior to the fire alarm being activated.
“There was a gentleman out on the deck upstairs and he was screaming that there was a fire and my friend jumped on the phone in my room and called 911 and the office to get them coming,” Hiltz says.
She says the fire appears to have originated in a chair in one of the units.
“The guy said he was in the bathroom and he came out from peeing and the chair was on fire and it went from just a tiny little dot,” she says. “It was up within four minutes. It was totally engulfed all the way around.”
She says someone attempted to use a fire extinguisher on the blaze before fire crews arrived.
Courtenay Fire Chief Kurt MacDonald says significant resources attended the blaze.
“We’ve got BC Ambulance, RCMP, Emergency Support Services and the Comox Fire Department here with mutual aid to help us out with the fire,” he says.
One man was pulled from a unit next to the active fire and was rushed to hospital with undetermined injuries.
“Did not appear to be (burned), appeared to be more shook up than anything but he is in the care of BC Ambulance Service,” MacDonald says.
A further investigation is expected to take place later Tuesday to determine the cause of the fire.
“No idea as to how it started, it will be quite some time before our investigators will be on scene,” MacDonald says. “We’re still in the process of overhauling the fire and trying to make sure it hasn’t spread to any of the other units.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.
Humanist group threatening to sue Vancouver over council prayers
The B.C. Humanist Association has threatened legal action against the City of Vancouver for allowing prayers at council, following a similar warning issued earlier this month to a smaller community on Vancouver Island.
LHSC performs a Canadian first in robot-assisted direct lateral spine surgery
Spine surgery may never be the same for people with chronic back pain and other physical ailments.