Hours after firefighters were called to a popular downtown pub Tuesday morning over reports of what appeared to be smoke coming from the building, officials at the pub released a statement in response.
CTV News reported Tuesday morning that firefighters were called to the Mercer Tavern on 103 Avenue and 104 Street just after 4 a.m. that day.
The alarm company alerted firefighters at about 4:17 a.m., and a second call came in after a delivery person had noticed excessive heat and smoke coming from the building – that call upgraded the case to a structure fire.
“Crews arrived on the scene, found the smoke coming out the back of the building, upon entry into the building their CO alarms went off,” District Chief Brian Lees said. “Up to 260 parts per million, which is quite high.”
Officials with Edmonton Fire Rescue said the burners and ovens in the kitchen were left on, which led to dangerous levels of gas in the building.
“Crews determined all of the burners were left on, both on the toasters and the ovens, for some reason,” Lees said. “What they did was, they pulled the crews out of the building because the CO was too high.”
Lees said there was no fire damage, but there was water in the kitchen.
Officials said there were 24 firefighters on the scene.
A spokesperson for Mercer Tavern released a statement late Tuesday morning, and said there was a break-in at the business, and a number of bottles of alcohol were stolen. The spokesperson said at about the same time, the stoves in the kitchen were turned on and left on, and the heat activated the sprinkler system.
Police and Edmonton Fire Rescue are investigating.
