Woman 'clinging to window ledge,' 4 others escape suspicious Victoria house fire

Police and firefighters are investigating after a family of five, including three children, narrowly escaped their Victoria home as it was destroyed by a suspicious fire overnight.

Firefighters were called to the two-storey heritage home at 1112 Caledonia Ave. at 1:15 a.m. and immediately found a woman clinging to a second-storey window as the house burned.

A mother, father and three children were all inside the home when the fire broke out.

"The flames were going from the ground level all the way to the roof," Victoria fire battalion chief Doug Carey told CTV News. "There was also a female occupant of the house clinging to the window ledge on the left side of the house here."

Firefighters attacked the flames with hoses while others got a ladder up to the window and rescued the woman from the ledge.

A mother, father and three children were all inside the home when the fire broke out.

"The father ran down the stairs through the flames to escape the house," Carey said. "The mom woke up the children, took them into the one bedroom and shut the door behind her and then passed one child through the window to dad below, then another child down."

"The third child didn't wait," Carey said. "She jumped and was injured slightly on her way down."

The daughter who jumped received stitches and is "in good condition," Carey said. "The parents are both really shaken."