One person has died after an apartment fire in Duncan on Thursday that saw eight people taken to hospital.
The B.C. Coroners Service said it has been notified of one death relating to the fire and is investigating. It is not releasing the identity of the deceased.
Paramedics treated several people outside the Lewis Street apartment building, before taking six patients in stable condition and one patient in serious condition to hospital by ground ambulance.
Another person in critical condition was taken by air ambulance to a hospital where they could receive a higher level of care, said a spokesperson for B.C. Emergency Health Services.
The call came in at 12:55 for an apartment fire on Lewis Street, which stretches one block from Howard Road to York Avenue in Duncan.
Video sent to media outlets and posted online shows flames shooting out the window of a top floor unit and black smoke pouring out of an adjacent window. Fire crews were shooting water through the top-floor units and at least one person was escorted from a top floor unit via a fire ladder.
Fire crews from North Cowichan Southend, Maple Bay, Crofton and Duncan all responded and were still working to extinguish the flames as of 4:30 p.m., said Const. Pam Bolton of the North Cowichan-Duncan RCMP. When the fire is out, investigators will examine the building to try to determine how the fire started.
Darlene Potts, whose Creative Quilting store is nearby, said she saw black smoke that appeared to be coming from the building’s top floor.
“The smoke is really thick out here,” she said.
Fire crews were attacking the blaze from top-floor balconies and the aerial ladder of a fire engine, she said.
Police are asking people to avoid the area, which is blocked to foot and vehicle traffic.
