More than 200 forced to flee condos in Inglewood
Residents of an Inglewood condominium are wondering what’s left of their units and possessions after a massive fire early Wednesday morning attracted 25 fire department trucks to fight the blaze.
Fire crews first arrived at the four-storey building at 1408 17th St. S.E. at 1:30 a.m. and quickly called more units to the scene.
No residents or firefighters were injured in the blaze. More than 200 residents were able to evacuate safely from each of the 64 units in the affected condo building and the one next door.
“Within the first hour, it was knocked down,” said Calgary fire Chief Steve Dongworth.
“One of the concerns was spreading to the next building. The crews did a great job of knocking it down pretty quickly. Jeopardy to the second building was mitigated by then. It could’ve easily spread to the roof of that second building.”
He said it’s likely the fire originated on the fourth floor, which was badly damaged. Fire crews managed to contain the fire to the top floor, but much of the lower levels suffered smoke and water damage. Six suites were damaged by fire.
Dongworth said at the peak of firefighting efforts, it took 25 trucks to extinguish the blaze.
“The roof is gone on quite a ways around on that structure,” he said. “We’ll get in there during the day and I anticipate us being on scene here for most of the day.” The fire was declared under control just before 3:30 a.m.
Jeff Hughes, who lives on the fourth floor, says he was awoken around 2 a.m. by fire alarms but thought it was just a drill. The building had been testing its alarms on Tuesday, he said.
“I thought this was a joke but clearly it wasn’t,” said Hughes. “My roommate was like, ‘Hey, we gotta get out!’”
Hughes said he lives in the unit behind the one visibly damaged and didn’t know as of 7 a.m. Wednesday if his apartment survived. He recalled rushing out through a hallway filled with smoke.
“It just wasn’t even registering what was going on. I pretty much just grabbed my phone and jacket and what I’m wearing. These aren’t even my shoes,” he said. “Probably if I would have stayed for one or two minutes the hallway would have been blocked off for sure.
“When we got outside, that’s when we realized what was actually going down. It’s pretty crazy.”
Shane Harty, who lives one floor below the unit where the fire likely started, wasn’t home Tuesday night and only found out about the fire while browsing the condo board’s Facebook group.
“I was looking at it this morning just freaking out,” said Harty, who’s lived on the third floor for two years. “It just really hasn’t all sunk in. It’s just going to be a really big hassle I’m sure. We just don’t know what steps to take and what’s salvageable and what’s not.”
He said he’s been told his condo most likely had significant water damage.
“That’s really all they would say,” he said. “We’ve got to make a list of essentials we can take out, but that’s about it.” Some evacuees were taken to Max Bell Arena, where the Calgary Emergency Management Agency set up a reception centre for displaced residents. The Red Cross was also on scene to provide support.
Dongworth said there have been more fires around the city than usual over the past number of days.
“Although we don’t have a cause for this one, one thing we’re seeing is there’s a fairly common theme in the initial investigation results of people not being very careful, or as careful as they could be, with disposing of smoking materials,” the chief said.
He said it’s important now that the weather is warmer and drier that Calgarians stay extra cautious when disposing of cigarettes.
“Put them in a non-combustible material and make sure they’re out,” he said. “Not specifically for this fire, but we’ve had a number over the last few days where we believe that’s likely going to be the cause.”
Hughes says he’s just hoping to find out soon if he lost everything.
“I run a business out of there,” he said. “Everything is in there ... I hope something is salvageable. It would be nice to get some clothes or something.”