Three fire halls were called to a blaze in an outbuilding at Cowichan Secondary School on Wednesday morning.
North Cowichan’s South End hall got the initial call to the fire shortly after 8:30 a.m., and summoned crews from Duncan and Maple Bay for assistance. A total of six trucks ended up at the scene: three from South End, two from Duncan, and one from Maple Bay.
The flames were contained to a small building on the west end of the property. The structure was reportedly being used as storage for school board maintenance and operations, and the fire was first noticed by an operations staff member.
“There was a a fire in the top corner of the building,” North Cowichan manager of fire and bylaw services Martin Drakeley said from the scene while fire crews were still at work. “They’re doing overhaul to get to the root of the fire.”
Drakeley said he saw the smoke rising from across the highway just after the call came in.
“The crews were on the scene rather quickly,” he reported.
Because of the location of the fire and the quick work of the crews, no evacuations were required at the school.
The investigation was just getting underway on Wednesday, and no information was available about the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage.