Victoria Fire Department responds to two early Sunday morning fires

Two small fires within one hour of each other in downtown Victoria early Sunday morning kept firefighters busy.

The first fire occurred at 1:11 a.m. in a clothing donation bin outside of the Thrifty Foods on Simcoe Street in James Bay

Firefighters arrived to smoke coming out of the donation bin, but quickly extinguished the fire. No other property was damaged in the process.

About an hour later, fire crews were dispatched to a dumpster fire located next to a building in the 500 block of Fort Street at 2:05 a.m. A fire alarm was activated in a nearby building. Like the first case, crews extinguished the fire quickly and no damage was done to any other property.

While the fires were discovered at similar times and locations, officials don’t believe the fires are suspicious.

“I wouldn’t say at this time it is suspicious,” said Victoria fire Battalion Chief Brian Elvedahl. “If there are more I’d definitely say ‘yes’ and involve the police immediately.”

The causes of the fires are currently unknown, but are being investigated.

Elvedahl told Victoria Buzz that dumpster fires are “fairly frequent”, and that it can be difficult to discover what started them. However, dumpster fires are always reported to the fire prevention division and local police.

“As of right now we’re just keeping an eye out for suspicious things. We’ve told business owners that if they see something suspicious on their security cameras to tell us and we will alert the police.”

On Friday, police arrested a 31-year-old woman for two of six suspicious fires set in Victoria and Saanich on Halloween night. The other four fire are believed to be related and officers continue to investigate those cases.

Anyone with information on the two fires on Sunday are asked to contact the Victoria Fire Department.