Mel Thornton and her 12-year-old son had only just finished moving into the top-storey suite of a Vic West home on Sunday evening when the boy woke his mother up around 10 p.m. to say the house was on fire.
The fire at 515 Wilson St., at the corner of Wilson and Springfield Street, started in the basement and flames quickly spread, licking up three sides of the three-storey, multi-unit home.
“He saved my life,” Thornton said of her son, Stephen. She was sleeping heavily and didn’t hear other tenants knocking on her door, but Stephen did.
Gord Hinds, who lives in the main part of the home with his 10-year-old daughter, Jadelyn, said he heard a commotion downstairs, opened up the door to the basement and saw flames shooting out.
He got his daughter out of the house and he and the basement-suite tenant grabbed a garden hose to try to put out the blaze. The flames were too much, so Hinds got out and called 911. Everyone was out of the house when Victoria firefighters arrived.
Firefighters attempted to attack the blaze from inside, but had to quickly retreat when it was discovered the fire was coming from the basement area, “compromising the entrance floor,” said battalion chief Bob Jones.
The blaze spread quickly mostly due to the “balloon construction” of the wood-framed home, fire inspector Brad Sifert said. There were few, if any, fire-stopping materials, such as drywall or fire-rated doors.
Fire crews climbed ladders on the side of the home and doused the flames with hand-held hoses through windows.
The children were taken to hospital by ambulance for possible smoke inhalation and were later released.
“She’s a trooper but she’s shaken up for sure,” Hinds said of Jadelyn.
Fire inspectors were at the house Monday, boarding up shattered windows and sifting through the wreckage to determine the cause.
Sifert said the blaze was likely an accident resulting from misuse of an electrical cord, power bar or smoking materials.
The damage is estimated at $600,000.
Tenants have been put up in a hotel for the next three days. Thornton said most of her belongings were still in boxes, but much of it is likely smoke-damaged.
The landlord, Tasma Hinch, inspected the damage on Monday, walking past the charred walls and stepping over debris in a state of near-disbelief.
Hinch, who has owned the home for the last 40 years, said she expects it will take a year and a half to repair the structure, which dates back to 1912.
The upper portion of the home caught fire just over a year ago, on Jan. 29, 2014. The cause of that fire was an overheated extension cord used to power a space heater. Contrary to bylaws, the smoke alarm in the top-floor suite was not working. There was heavy smoke causing an estimated $20,000 damage.
The three-storey home comprises two addresses: The lower half of the house is 517 Wilson St., which includes two bedrooms on the main floor and a bedroom and makeshift addition in the basement. The top floor of the house is at 515 Wilson St., which includes two bedrooms.
The top part of the home had just been re-wired and received a new roof before the fire in the lower portion of the home, Sifert said.
