A day after dozens of people were forced to evacuate from a south side apartment building as it went up in flames early Sunday morning, one of the residents displaced by the fire described what he saw.
On Sunday just before 2 a.m., firefighters were called to the apartment building on 115 Street and 27 Avenue. Resident James Friesen said the flames looked like a “dragon breathing fire” out of one balcony.
“I’ve never seen…it was so powerful it had its own swirl,” Friesen said. “It was like a firenado coming out of that balcony.”
Investigators said Monday that the fire started on a fourth floor balcony, where a cigarette had been discarded in a plant pot.
Damage has been pegged at $14 million.
“Because of somebody being irresponsible,” Friesen said.
“Completely and utterly unacceptable for losses for a very preventable ignition source,” Deputy Fire Chief Russell Croome said.
Edmonton Fire said so far in 2018, 54 fires were started by smoking materials.
All 90 suites in the four storey building are considered uninhabitable. The Red Cross is helping more than 40 people left homeless by the fire.
“Currently we’re assisting with food, clothing, lodging and some personal hygiene items,” Melissa Fougere with the Red Cross said.
For now, Friesen is staying with family.
“[We’ll] try and scrape together some kind of hodgepodge of stuff that we can use to live in,” Friesen said. He said he didn’t have tenant insurance, so he hopes some of his belongings are salvageable.
Croome said it’s expected most suites in the building sustained some water damage, and on Monday crews were still inside the building surveying the damage. Until that work is complete, residents will not be allowed to return.
With files from Shanelle Kaul
