Nanaimo Fire Rescue crews were quick to deal with a reported structure fire at the former Traveller's Lodge on Nelson St. early Thursday afternoon. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

small fire

Nanaimo crews quickly handle fire at former Travellers Lodge property

Jun 1, 2023 | 2:02 PM

NANAIMO — Squatters are believed responsible for a small fire at a disused care facility.

Fire Rescue crews were called out to the 1200 block of Nelson St, near Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, just after 1 p.m. after reports of smoke coming from the former and closed Travellers Lodge.

Stu Kenning, assistant fire chief of operations, said on scene they found a small fire inside the building and acted quickly.

“We have smoke damage in only a portion of the building, only a small amount of water to put [the fire] out. We had four engines on scene.”

Crews deemed the situation under control just before 1:45 p.m.

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No one was found inside by search teams, nor was anyone associated with the fire located on scene.

The cause of the fire is under investigation but Kenning said the doors to the building were forced open.

“It was a bigger building so it took us a while to search the whole entire building to make sure there was no one else living or squatting in the building. We don’t want to have anyone else injured in a different part of the building, we wanted to make sure it was all empty.”

Paramedics from BC Emergency Health Services and Nanaimo RCMP officers also attended.

The property has been closed to the public for several years but used in the past for training by Nanaimo RCMP’s police dog services unit.

Crews from BC Emergency Health Services and RCMP were both on scene along with Fire Rescue. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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