Cigarette butt blamed for fire at Centennial Street apartment
Regina Fire and Protective Services (RFPS) says an “improperly disposed” cigarette was the cause of a late-night blaze at an apartment building in the Qu'appelle Village neighbourhood on Saturday.
At 9 p.m. on Feb. 24, firefighters were called to a multiplex on the 200 block of Centennial Street to reports of a blaze consuming a portion of a 16-suite block of apartments.
A total of 22 crew members were on scene for several hours Saturday and again Sunday, said Deputy Chief Gord Hewitt Monday as he gave media an update on the fire.
The blaze was “fully involved” and required four pump trucks and a ladder truck to contain it.
Fire services has determined the source of the fire was a “cigarette butt discarded into an improper container” outside a lower-floor unit.
“It smouldered and eventually led to further burning, travelled up the side of the building and engulfed the two units,” he said.
An estimated 55 people were displaced from the building as a result of the incident. Two residents suffered “severe injuries but not considered life-threatening injuries” while exiting the building.
“They were non-fire related injuries,” Hewitt said, describing them as “cuts and scrapes and maybe some broken bones,” potentially caused by exiting through a broken window or jumping from the second floor.
Both were attended to on scene by medical services and transported to hospital.
Two of the 16 units experienced “significant” damage, displacing seven individuals permanently. Twelve other units were affected by smoke damage, but residents were able to begin moving back in as of Monday.
Mobile Crisis was called to the scene to assist those who were evacuated from their homes on Saturday.
“Fire calls us every time there are people displaced by a fire, and we do an assessment with them to determine what their immediate needs are,” said executive director Jan Thorson on Monday.
She could not speak to the specifics of what was provided Saturday night, but said the unit's two-person teams generally offer “accommodations, transportation to a friend or family member's, those kinds of things.”
“My understanding is that everybody who needed help received it,” Thorson said. “This was a big call because there were a lot of people involved but our staff, as always, rose to the occasion.”