50 tenants displaced after Maple Ridge apartment building fire

A fire at an apartment building in Maple Ridge Tuesday night has displaced around 50 tenants.

Maple Ridge Fire Department Chief Dave Samson tells 1130 NewsRadio crews received a call about the fire along 119 Avenue near 223 Street just after 7 p.m.

“It’s an older three-story building that’s unsprinklered. When we arrived, we had heavy fire conditions coming out the second floor,” he explained.

“One of the suites, the fire was extending directly above to, and got into the third floor to the suite above and potentially into the roof space.”

Samson says crews were told that the occupant of the original suite had jumped out of the second floor to escape the flames. That resident, along with one other, was taken to hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.

“Thankfully, no serious injuries for any of our residents of the city,” he said.

The second alarm fire triggered 25 firefighters and crews to tackle the blaze, Samson says. Crews doused the flames from the outside before attacking and knocking down the fire from inside the building — what Samson describes as a “transitional attack.”

“We were able to contain the fire to each suite on the second and the third floor. But as you can imagine, there is significant damage to the entire building with the combination of fire, smoke, and water,” he said.

“So, the 36 suites in the building, all those occupants are currently displaced, which is approximately 50 people.”

The City of Maple Ridge activated its emergency support services, Samson explains, and dozens of the people displaced were placed in a hotel overnight.

“As far as the cause of the fire, it’s currently undetermined, but we will be doing a joint investigation with the RCMP tomorrow,” Samson added.