An electrical overload is suspected in a fire that damaged a garage and workshop at a property in West Porpoise Bay on Monday.
The Sechelt Fire Department was called out just after 5 p.m. when a passerby noticed smoke and flame coming from the top floor of the two-storey outbuilding in the 5900 block of Shoal Way.
Fire chief Trevor Pike said there was no one in the building, which is about 150 metres from the main house.
Firefighters were able to get to the scene within about six minutes and contained the damage to the upper floor and saved the valuable motorcycles and tools stored below.
Pike said the preliminary investigation points to an electrical overload as the cause, possibly from a space heater, and the fire department is reminding people that space heaters should not be plugged into power bars and never be left unattended.
He said the Sechelt Fire Department continues to get a large number of calls related to heaters every winter.
