The Killoren Crescent fire that began early this morning has been extinguished with fire crews remaining on the scene to put out hotspots.
According to Deputy Chief Brian Burleigh, residents only sustained minor injuries and have since been released from the hospital.
“Through our evacuation process, there were occupants that were transported to the hospital, ” said Bailey. “It's my understanding that they've since been released and cleared, so injuries were insignificant and minor and there were no reported injuries to fire crews on scene.”
Bailey in an interview with the media added that their priority was the evacuation of residents of the building.
“A portion of the building is a complete loss,” said Burleigh. “On arrival, crews found fire, smoke and flames coming from the roof on their arrival. Our priority was evacuation and accountability of the people that were residing here. That was our primary focus and efforts directed on arrival.”
He added that the firewalls built into the apartment likely saved the rest of the building from the blaze.
“The firewall did its job and so as a result of that, I'll say this building has got five segments to it, and two of them were a complete loss. The firewall stopped it, we've saved three segments of the building.”
He added that residents will be able to return in a few days following an assessment of the building.
“There's a little bit of water damage there as a result of our efforts,” said Burleigh. “Smoke will be minimal and currently the utilities have been disconnected from a firefighter safety perspective, so it will be a couple of days to get that sorted out, but they or hopeful that those units will be habitable again in the next couple of days.
A total of 19 firefighters from 4 different stations responded to the call, with one truck and apparatus remaining on the scene to manage the aftermath of the fire.
Burleigh also gave some insight into the firefighters' approach while battling the fire.
“These multi-residential occupancies are always challenging from an accountability perspective. How many people are here and who's been accounted for? So life safety is always our number one priority and that's where our focus is," he said. "We search floor by floor, we've cleared room by room and that's our priority and then we get to containing and managing the fire from there.”
Tanya Spooner, the city's manager of emergency services, also updated local media about the evolving situation with the displaced residents.
“We have opened up our reception centre, the trailer is in behind the Kin 2 arena, and we're helping people at that facility right now,” said Spooner. “We don't have a total number of people in the building. We've had about 50 people check in on-site and we're aware of another 10, so we know of 60 people that are safe and supported in this event at this point.”
Spooner said that no additional supports are needed to assist displaced residents and that they are agreements in place with her program and local hotels and businesses to further assist if need be.
She added that displaced residents are safe and are being supported by her well-trained team.
“I think there's a lot of emotions, a lot of stress this morning,” said Spooner. “It's a wide range of people who had levels of preparedness for their emergencies or events. I think there's a lot of shock and that'll be there for at least the next few days. Our team is well trained and well versed in how to support people who have been through this type of event and is supporting them in the best way possible.”
Burleigh told local media that the cause is currently under investigation and that there is no damage estimate available currently.
If you have been affected or displaced by the Killoren Crescent fire call the Emergency Support Services hotline at 236-607-9325.
