Firefighters pulled a sleeping woman from a burning house in Oak Bay early Wednesday.
Oak Bay, Victoria and Saanich fire departments rushed to the home in the 2300 block of Eastdowne Road, near Cadboro Bay Road, about 12:30 a.m.
When firefighters arrived they saw flames and smoke coming from the upstairs bedroom. They tackled it with water as other firefighters searched the basement of the home, which was quickly filling with smoke.
There, Lt. Gord Marshall came across one woman still in bed.
“He found one occupant sound asleep in there even though all the smoke detectors and alarms were going off,” said Oak Bay Fire Chief Dave Cockle. “So he woke her up and pulled her out of the building.”
He said the woman was panicked.
“You can imagine waking up to a firefighter with a big mask on and smoke all around.”
Two women had already escaped the home after trying to douse the flames with water.
All three women, English-as-a-second-language students in their 20s, were seen by B.C. Ambulance paramedics on scene. They were not injured.
Cockle said it appeared that clothing left on a lamp caught fire, then fell on a bed.
The smoke alarms and a quick response from firefighters likely saved the women’s lives, he said.
Damage to the house is estimated at $100,000.
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