Firefighters evacuate residents from Burnaby apartment building after unit fire
Residents from a three-storey apartment building in Burnaby, B.C. have been evacuated after an early morning fire in one of the units.
Assistant Fire Chief Greg Young said firefighters were called to the building on Pender Street near Ingleton Avenue at around 1 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 31 and saw flames from the front of the building, coming from a second-floor unit.
"The crews were able to contain the actual fire to the suite of origin, but there was smoke damage to all three floors," Young said.
He said everyone in the building was evacuated and city buses were provided to shelter the residents.
Three people were transported to the hospital, according to BC Emergency Health Services, with two people in serious condition and one person who was stable.
"It's possible that the first floor and the third floor, some of the suites will be available to be occupied again, but the second floor would not be able to be occupied at the moment," Young explained.
A total of 38 firefighters and 11 fire trucks helped extinguished the fire, according to Young, and an investigation into the cause of the fire will soon be underway.
