The man was rescued from a balcony on the 10th floor. Most of the 19-story building on Vue and Quadra Streets, which holds 350 units, was evacuated as firefighters battled the blaze.
Victoria firefighters rescued a man from a balcony on the 10th floor and quickly demolished what could have been a catastrophic fire at the View Towers apartment building on Friday morning.
The rescued man is in hospital with severe burns, the fire department said.
Dan Atkinson, Victoria’s acting fire chief, said firefighters responded around 11:30 a.m. The fire, which was contained in one unit, was put out in about 20 minutes.
Most of the 19-story building on View and Quadra, which contains 350 units, has been evacuated as firefighters have received support from Victoria Police, Atkinson said.
The rescue video shows a firefighter stepping on the railing of the balcony to pick up the man, then helping him climb onto the railing and into a bucket on top of a fire truck ladder. The man, covered in black soot, falls into the hands of the waiting firefighter as thick black smoke comes out of the apartment.
The man was taken to hospital and is in critical condition with severe burns and smoke inhalation.
Tobias Jones, a resident of View Towers, told CHEK News that he was returning home when the fire broke out on the 10th floor.
“The fire was right next to my apartment,” he said. “If I lose my work there, I lose my work. I have collected many native works of art over the last few years. ”
Another resident said he was sleeping in his block on the 18th floor when the fire alarm went off.
“I started smelling smoke, I looked through my door, I even saw smoke in the hallway,” he said. “There will be a lot of water damage and a lot of smoke damage right now.”
A fire in View Towers in May 2014 quickly spread from a ninth-floor apartment, causing significant fire and water damage and forcing more than 100 residents to flee their homes in a matter of months.
Authorities are still determining how many residents could be displaced by the fire on Friday as damage is assessed. The first estimates are that up to nine apartments may be affected.
Atkinson said the department had known about the fire since 2014, when it battled the blaze on Friday.
He said firefighters were sent up two stairs carrying hoses and managed to put out the fire from the inside out, pushing debris and water out of the building.
He said the 2014 fire was extinguished on the outside, while Friday’s was exterminated on the inside.
Investigators are still searching for the cause of Friday’s fire.
“We got to the fire quickly and had a coordinated attack,” Atkinson said.
dkloster@timescolonist.com
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