South Edmonton apartment resident frustrated over lack of warning during police operation in her building

A resident is raising questions over how an arrest was handled in her apartment building in south Edmonton Friday night.

Gabby Keiran was one of multiple residents who were trapped on their balconies by a fire that broke out during a police police operation at the Blue Ice Properties apartments on 79 Avenue and 107 Street.

"I watched the fire come closer, it was wrapping around the building and the fire department wasn't there yet," she said. "And I thought, maybe I should be calling the people who matter to me."

Police confirmed Friday the fire broke out in a suite of a man who had barricaded himself inside.

Officers had been called by another agency earlier that day to help carry out a court order against the man. Police said negotiations started at 5 p.m. and lasted until after midnight.

Kieran said a police investigator told her after the fire that the man being arrested had previously mentioned burning down the building.

She's angry no one was warned.

"The police officer on the phone the first time, he told me that in the first court order, [the suspect] had threatened to burn the whole place down to the ground," Keiran said. "Why was I in my apartment when they were negotiating for seven hours?

"If there's negotiations there shouldn't be people there. I was collateral."

The man was arrested at 12:48 a.m., by which time a fire had already broken out in his suite.

Police did not respond Sunday to questions about the subject of the court order or if any residents were asked to evacuate the building during negotiations.

'I couldn't get through'

Like other tenants, Keiran said fire alarms in the building didn't go off – or went off when it was already too late.

"The reports you've gotten about the fire alarms not going off, they were all true," she said, adding she woke up around 12:30 a.m. after hearing what sounded like an explosion and a man yelling.

"Then, within a couple of seconds, the fire alarm started going off," she said. "First I ran to the stairwell that was closest to me and it was filled with smoke, I couldn't get through.

"And so I ran to the other one, and that one was even worse."

With smoke too thick to escape, Keiran and other residents on the fourth floor gathered onto balconies and waited anxiously for fire crews to arrive.

"To the right of us there were three other people, a family with a little kid. And I think I saw people on the balconies below us," Keiran said. "We just stood there and closed the door and watched as the whole apartment filled with smoke."

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services (EFRS) said the fire was called in at 12:46 a.m., more than 15 minutes after residents say they woke up to the thick smoke trapping them in the building.

The fire sent seven people to hospital and killed multiple pets. It took until 6:47 p.m. on Friday to extinguish.

Keiran said she and other tenants haven't heard from the property owner since the fire and haven't been given a timeline of when they can expect to get their deposits back.

"I have a tuition payment that's due in three days," she said. "And we haven't gotten our damage deposit back yet. The landlord hasn't contacted us."

She is fundraising to afford the sudden expense.  

CTV News Edmonton has reached out to the property owner multiple times but has not yet received a response.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti