While fire crews continued to put out flare-ups in an apartment building fire in Stony Plain, the Red Cross came to the aid of dozens of now-homeless residents.
RCMP in Stony Plain said the fire started at about 6:50 p.m. Thursday in the three-storey Sonora Apartments on Golf Course Road.
Police said the residential complex consists of two buildings, but only one was on fire.
Residents of both buildings were evacuated; the Stony Plain and District Victim’s Services Unit was helping the evacuees, who were to be moved to an evacuation centre set up nearby.
However, some residents of the burned apartment complex were not at home when the fire broke out – Sean Dennis was one of them, he was at work at the time.
“I raced over there and it ended up being my apartment, obviously I just couldn’t believe it,” Dennis said, his wife was at work as well, but his dog was still inside the apartment building.
“When I got to the scene, I tried to run through the police and fire department, they held me back, they wouldn’t let me go, I was absolutely hysterical.”
Dennis said he pleaded with the firefighters on the scene to rescue his dog, Dexter – who was rescued from the burning building.
The Dennis family is one of dozens of residents in the 36 suites in the building now without a home – the entire building was destroyed.
Officials with the Town of Stony Plain said about 50 people were directly affected by the blaze - fire officials said late Thursday night that very few of those residents would be able to salvage anything from their suites.
The residents who lived in the surrounding buildings were allowed back in their homes late Thursday night, even though firefighters were still trying to put out hot spots.
“It was just, I can’t believe it,” Dennis said. “We lost everything.”
There are also 24 suites in the neighbouring building, where all of the residents were evacuated.
By 8:30 p.m., the fire was not yet contained, and RCMP said strong winds were making the job difficult for firefighters.
Just before 10 p.m., the fire continued to burn, and crews were still putting out flare-ups – but not all was lost, later Thursday night firefighters pulled out a cat.
The feline was wet, scared and had some burned whiskers, but was otherwise ok.
Animal Control officials looked after the cat, until officials could find its owner.
A team of seven members from the Canadian Red Cross Personal Disaster Assistance Team was deployed to support those affected by the fire.
The team will continue to support those people for 72 hours, providing food, shelter, clothing and help.
The Town of Stony Plain is accepting donations for those affected by the fire – donations of food, clothing and toiletries – and toys for the about 5 children affected by the fire - will be accepted at the local Legion (4902 44 Ave.) Friday.
No injuries were reported, although one person had to be rescued from the burning building.
With files from Amanda Anderson
