An electrical fire at Teredo Square on May 15 could have been much worse had people left a few minutes earlier for the long weekend.
That Friday at about 5 p.m., some people working in the three-storey building noticed smoke and pulled the fire alarm, which alerted the Sechelt Volunteer Fire Department, resulting in 22 firefighters on scene within minutes.
“There was certainly a lot of smoke but the fire was contained to the electrical room. It was the electric motor that lifts up and down the elevator,” Sechelt Fire Chief Bill Higgs said.
“It burnt off some of the electrical insulation on the wiring and that filled the elevator shaft with smoke and it went up into the second and third floor of the building, so when we got there the fire alarm had been activated and people were self evacuating.”
Higgs said firefighters did a sweep of the building to ensure no one was trapped inside and quickly put out the electrical room fire.
Firefighters then used large fans to rid the building of the thick smoke.
“It generated a lot of really stinky electrical fire smoke,” Higgs said, noting owners of the building did some “further remediation work” over the weekend to get the building ready to welcome workers again after Victoria Day.
Higgs said there was about $25,000 in damage caused by the fire.
The Sechelt Volunteer Fire Department has tips for people who need to clean up after a fire, including ways to get rid of smoke smell. Learn more at www.secheltfiredepartment.ca under the “after the fire” section.
