VICTORIA — Three people are now dead after a house fire on Johnson Street early this morning. Global BC has reported the third person injured, a woman, succumbed to her injuries in hospital around 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The three victims, two females and one male, were in their early 20s. The male victim was found on the porch outside while the two females were found upstairs on the third floor.

Victoria Fire Chief Paul Kowalyk told Global BC it appears the fire started on a couch outside on the porch and spread up the siding of the house.

The blaze engulfed the multiple-unit rental home around 4 a.m. There was a party at the home earlier Friday night so it was difficult for responders and friends to decipher who was staying in the home and who was hurt or missing.

John Muller has left the party around 3:30 a.m. Saturday after helping to clean up. He said everyone were heading to bed.

“We only found out what happened this morning,” he said at his Fairfield home, where a group of friends were gathering to share information, hugs and tea. “We’re not even sure who died.”

He did say his friends who lived in the main floor suite were taken to a hotel by emergency responders to rest. There was also a couple living in the upstairs room, which appeared to have the most fire damage at its sole entrance.

While fire officials have not released the cause of the fire or where it started, the front porch and side of the house were clearly scorched the worst. Muller said there had been two couches on the porch.

The Facebook invitation to the party at 1320 Johnson Street called it an Aphrodisiac Love and Appreciation event. Guests were encouraged to bring herb-infused treats and libations.

About 40 people RSVP’d to the event, although it’s unconfirmed how many attended or were at the home at the time of the fire.

At least two of the tenants were students at the Pacific Rim College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said friend Angela Furfaro at the scene.

She had been at their house the night before for a party and left around 11:30 p.m. to go home a few doors down. She happened to be riding her bike by the next morning and stood shocked to see there’d been a fire at the house.

“I heard sirens last night and thought ‘Wow, that’s close,’” she said through tears. “I need to find out what happened. I need to call my friends.”

Taxi driver Noah Ferguson was one of the first on the scene. He finished his shift at 4 a.m. and was on his way home when a few cars pulled over in front of him on Johnson Street and he followed suit to see what they were looking at.

“The entire front entrance and front corner of the house was engulfed in flames. It was absolutely a raging inferno,” he said. “The heat was face-searing from the other side of the street.”