Smoke was discovered coming from a crawlspace under Sound Heritage on Victoria Cres. just before 10 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

multiple reports

‘We’ll be back on our feet soon:’ fire sparks in crawlspace under downtown Nanaimo business

Sep 21, 2023 | 10:52 AM

NANAIMO — A quick report to emergency crews has likely prevented further damage to a well-known downtown business.

Smoke was seen coming from the floor of Sound Heritage on Victoria Cres. around 9:50 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21 with multiple calls being made to fire crews.

Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant chief Stuart Kenning told NanaimoNewsNOW on scene the situation was a challenging one to get access to.

“When we got on scene, it was mainly smoke with a little bit of flames. Difficult to access, get into the basement. It’s more like a crawlspace so we had a very difficult time getting into it and we had to cut a hole into the floor to maintain access.”

Kenning said it wasn’t immediately obvious where the ignition point of the fire was, with investigators on scene looking for a cause.

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He added old, thick timbers which make up the building’s construction added an extra obstacle for crews to get through before hitting the fire directly.

Minor smoke damage was concentrated to the crawlspace below the main floor of the business.

No injuries were reported.

Dylan Eddy manages the store and was in the process of opening up when smoke was first seen. He said it’s a pretty upsetting situation.

“I come in, I see smoke coming out of the floorboards. The fire wasn’t started inside, it was something outside.”

He was unsure whether the fire was externally set or if it was the result of an oversight from the business itself, or a freak accident.

Eddy was also unsure what the immediate impacts to the business would be.

“We’re hoping we can open up as soon as possible, not today maybe not even tomorrow but hopefully we’ll be back on our feet soon.”

Victoria Cres. between Esplanade and Albert St. was closed off to traffic while crews were on scene.

Traffic along Victoria Cres. was closed off to allow safe room for crews to work. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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