VICTORIA — One man is still unaccounted for in relation to the largest fire that downtown Victoria has seen in years.
The Victoria Fire Department responded to fire alarms going off at 1411 Government St. at 5:18 a.m. Monday, only to quickly realize the fire had in fact come from the neighboring building, 603 Pandora Ave., also known as the Plaza Hotel.
Victoria firefighters entered the building and realized the fire was coming from underneath them in the building’s basement.
VIDEO: Partial collapse as fire ravages empty Victoria building
“The hallways were very full with black smoke,” Fire Chief Paul Bruce reported.
The blaze sent up a plume of smoke that was visible from some locations on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Firefighters made it to the third floor before evacuating the building, and continued with a defensive attack from outside.
By 11:30 a.m. firefighters had the blaze contained, though so far a cause has not been determined.
The building has officially been unoccupied for years, though neighbors reported often seeing people go in and out of the building and even seeing healthy plants in the windowsills. One man, a caretaker, sometimes lived in the building and according to neighbors also owned the silver Airstream trailer that is parked at the back of the building.
The Victoria Fire Department said no injuries occurred and there were no indication of occupants, but they are still trying to follow up and track down the caretaker.
“We’ve been reaching out all morning, but we haven’t heard back from him,” Bruce said. “At this point we have been unable to locate him.”
Neighbors were under the impression that the caretaker was away at the time.
“There was a maintenance person taking care of the building, but I think he’s been away for a few days, I haven’t seen him, ” said B. Woodward, owner of the neighboring Cherry Bomb Toys. “I don’t know if he took off for a few days or if something happened.”
The owner of the building was unable to confirm the caretaker’s whereabouts. Currently the Victoria Police Department has also joined in to further investigate the location of the caretaker.
Bruce said that so far the idea of the fire being suspicious has not been ruled out.
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Nicole Crescenzi is a reporter for the Victoria News and can be reached at nicole.crescenzi@ vicnews.com.
