An investigation reveals that a fire that destroyed three mobile homes on Craigflower Road on Wednesday started in a middle trailer and spread to two others on either side of it.
View Royal Fire Chief Paul Hurst say that the fire that sent four people to hospital started near or at the front of that unit.
The level of damage means they can’t determine exactly how it started, but Hurst says they did find evidence of an electrical appliance, either a heater or a battery charger.
It is not considered suspicious.
Hurst also says the flames were fueled by propane tanks that were located in and around the trailer where the fire started.
Crews from View Royal, Esquimalt and Colwood were called to the area around 5:40 a.m. on Wednesday.
They managed to quickly extinguish the flames and prevent them from spreading to a nearby home.
Six people living in the units escaped with little more than what they were wearing at the time, Chief Hurst says one elderly man didn’t even have time to put on a pair of shoes.
The victims have been relocated to a nearby hotel for the time being.
A neighbour has set up a GoFundMe page on behalf of three elderly residents who she says lost everything in the fire and did not have insurance.
“I have lived alongside these folks since I was a child and can’t stand the thought of them having nothing to return to,” writes Felicity Peters.
“These elderly are aged from 70 to 90 and have nothing left.”
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