A man living in a car on Nicol Street suffered second-degree burns to his arms and legs after a candle he was using for heat caught a blanket on fire.
Fire crews responded to a call of a man with burns at Swiftsure Taxi on Haliburton Street at 3:30 a.m. Thursday. They discovered he was living in a car covered by a tarp and parked in the backyard of a boarded-up home on Nicol Street.
Ennis Mond, fire investigator for Nanaimo Fire Rescue, said the man was taken to hospital for treatment and then given three nights stay at the Howard Johnson Harbourside Hotel through the city’s Emergency Social Services program.
