Edmonton police investigators have been brought in to help determine the cause of a fire that caused extensive damage to a west end apartment building Thursday morning.
Firefighters were called to the building located in the area of 172 Street and 76 Avenue at about 8 a.m. Thursday.
It’s believed the fire started in a suite on the third floor, before spreading through the fourth floor and through the roof.
“It just started spreading and it was just really really high,” Dana Harry, who lives next door, said. “You could feel the heat in our yard.”
The speed of the fire caused confusion in the area, as the flames spread.
Dwight Herron said he was sleeping with headphones on, and only woke up when firefighters smashed through the door of his first floor suite.
“I got up to see what it was and the firemen were axing my door down,” Herron said. He said he believes the firefighters saved his life.
Two people were taken to hospital as a result of the fire, but officials confirmed there were no fatalities.
“We did take a few people off balconies as the guys pulled up right away, but it went really good,” Dist. Chief Jim Solkowski said.
Edmonton Fire Rescue officials said crews arrived on the scene four minutes after the alarm went off.
“The guys did a really good job,” Dist. Chief Solkowski said. “We got this fire really really quick and as you can see we saved a good portion of the building.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation. In addition to the few suites directly damaged by the fire itself, a number of others were damaged by smoke and water.
With files from Bill Fortier
