The Campbell River Walmart will be closed for at least a few days, after a suspicious fire in the toilet paper aisle.
The fire broke out last night, filling the building with heavy smoke.
CR Firefighters respond to fire in Walmart this evening. The fire was contained to one of the aisles. Heavy smoke throughout the building.
— Campbell River Fire (@RiverCityFire) October 2, 2020
Campbell River firefighters responded and managed to contain it to the one aisle.
Campbell River Fire Department deputy fire chief Kelly Bellefleur said Walmart staff played a role in handling the situation.
“Staff were very quick to evacuate the store which was great and some even had the wherewithal to grab some fire extinguishers and put those onto the fire, which is great, and kept the fire down.”
Bellefleur said by the time fire crews arrived, the building was “full of smoke and the fire was still burning.”
“We quickly put a hose line into the store and got the fire out, and then spent the next couple of hours trying to get the smoke out of the store as quickly as we could.”
While there was extensive smoke damage to the store, nobody was hurt.
Bellefleur said the fire does appear suspicious and the RCMP is investigating.
“It would be unusual for a paper towel or a stack of toilet paper to burst into flames all by itself,” he added. “It certainly seems suspicious to us.”
He said the store will likely be closed for a few days at least.
“I do expect that Walmart will have some significant impacts to their business in the coming days as a result of this fire.”
