When Cpl. Michael Grizhanov heard people yelling “fire” in his Esquimalt apartment building, his military training kicked in.
As Esquimalt firefighters rushed toward 948 Esquimalt Rd. after fire broke out in a ground-floor suite around 4:45 p.m. Monday, Grizhanov and two other residents started going door to door, knocking loudly to make sure people evacuated safely.
Flames poured out of the balcony, reaching the second floor.
Residents rushed by as Grizhanov and the two others headed toward the heavy smoke.
“They were saying, ‘Go out, go out,’ but you can’t just leave people — there’s people who might be sleeping,” said Grizhanov, who lives in the building and works at CFB Esquimalt.
“We grabbed the extinguishers we could find and we tapped on every door.”
Residents of the four-storey apartment building waited outside as firefighters from Esquimalt and CFB Esquimalt extinguished the blaze and mopped up.
Grizhanov saw the resident of the suite where the fire started, a man who looked to be in his 40s or 50s, and said he appeared uninjured but shaken up.
B.C. Ambulance paramedics were on the scene to check the man for smoke inhalation.
Victoria police were also there to provide traffic control.
Fire investigators are still trying to determine what caused the blaze.
“I’m really sad for him,” Grizhanov said of his neighbour, “especially just before Christmas.”
