Fire damages storage building where non-profit that helps homeless Edmontonians stores its supplies

A fire damaged a storage building on 104 Street early Saturday morning.

Firefighters were called to the Affordable Storage Centre at 104 Street and 103 Avenue just after 6:15 a.m. on Saturday.

A total of 12 units responded to the blaze, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services told CTV News Edmonton.

The fire was first declared out just after 8:15 a.m. before there was a flare up later that hour. Six units returned and put the fire out again just before 9:45 a.m, EFRS said.

No one was injured in the fire.

The cause is under investigation.

The Affordable Storage Centre on 104 Street and 103 Avenue was damaged in a fire on Saturday, March 25, 2023. (Marek Tkach/CTV News Edmonton)

'THIS IS DEVASTATING'

A local non-profit organization used the building to store its supplies.

Water Warriors – a charity that hands out water, food and clothing – is worried its supplies were damaged.

“We’re expecting due to the smoke and water damage that’s there that we will have lost a considerable amount of supplies that are in there," volunteer John Morgan told CTV News.

The owners of the building told CTV News it's unclear when tenants will be allowed inside to assess the damage.

“My stuff is up on the fourth floor so I don’t know if maybe it might have smoke damage, water damage, I don’t know," said Maggie Whalen, a unit renter. "I have no idea, I have no access to the building, and this stuff was put here because I had no place to put it, so now I’m just going to move it into a friend's house. This is devastating because I don’t know if anything is of any good in my unit.”

Water Warriors usually does its outreach on Sundays and Thursday, and says it will need the public's help to assist the homeless population.

"We don’t have access to our storage locker right now to gain our supplies so we have to scramble really to get our clothing, food and water organized for the coming days. The need doesn’t stop," Morgan said.

A list of urgent needs can be found online.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Marek Tkach