View Royal Fire Chief Paul Hurst said at least one person was displaced as a result of the midday blaze, a kitchen fire on the fourth floor, which drew firefighters from Langford, Colwood and View Royal.
The fire was contained to the suite after the sprinkler system activated, controlling the blaze, he said.
“But unfortunately, you know what happens when a sprinkler system goes off on the fourth floor — everybody on floors three, two and one [is affected] — it makes for a pretty wet experience all the way around.”
Hurst couldn’t say exactly how many people were displaced, but the unit where the fire started is uninhabitable due to flame, smoke and water damage. He expected at least a handful of other units would have been hard to live in as a result of water damage.
“We got the water shut off as quickly as we could, but still they flow at 20 to 30 gallons per minute,” he said. If it takes 10 minutes for the fire department to shut off the water, that amounts to 300 gallons, “a lot of water in a small apartment.”
The occupant of the suite on the fourth floor was not in the unit at the time of the fire.
The province confirmed Wednesday afternoon that one person is receiving a shelter allowance through Emergency Support Services.
Hurst said if it was any other time of year, more people could have been displaced.
But because it was Christmas Eve, the crews on scene used “vacuums and all kinds of stuff to get up as much of the water as we could to make the suites somewhat habitable.”