(Above: Fletcher Kent reports on the latest developments in Saturday’s condo fire)
EDMONTON – The developer of a southwest Edmonton condo that was destroyed by a fire Saturday morning is blaming arson.
In a statement, Cove Properties says “From the initial review of the footage captured by our security cameras on site, it appears an individual broke into our building early Saturday morning and set one or more fires inside.”
On Sunday, the developer said he could no longer comment as the Edmonton Police Service had taken over the investigation.
“Right now this is becoming more and more of a police investigation,” said Fire Investigator Daryl Brennan on Monday. “They do have some security video that they are reviewing.”
“We’re trying to look at those areas and see if we can find some kind of trace evidence that might be usable.”
The developer says its security team immediately called 911. Emergency crews arrived at around 3:30 a.m. at the complex, which is located in the area of 10 Ave. and 173 St. southwest.
The condo complex – called Essence at Windermere South – was under construction and there are no reports of anyone being hurt in the blaze.
Cove Properties says there were 79 units in the building, 50 were sold.
Roughly 12 fire trucks were called out to respond, and about 50 fire fighters.
Eight homes were evacuated on the west side of the condo project as a precaution.
“We could actually feel heat through the house,” said Albert Wong, who lives nearby.
“It felt like it was summer time already, at that point.”
“We looked outside and thought, ‘oh, it’s morning already.’ Actually, it’s not, there’s a whole huge ball of fire outside.”
“We left the house quickly grabbed our dogs and our valuables and got in the car and drove off, unfortunately fearing for our home,” Wong added.
“911 was very cooperative,” he told Global News. “They were really on top of things right off the bat.”
“When we opened up the garage door, we felt this big camp fire hitting our face, so it was extremely scary,” said Wong.
“There was a huge explosion that blew off too, when we were leaving the house.”
(Watch the video above: Kelsey Cochrane was in a vehicle travelling past the fire when she captured the footage)
The fire was under control shortly after 4:40 a.m.
Crews say they will let the fire burn out, and try to prevent it from spreading to nearby buildings.
“Something like this, if there’s no risk of life in the structure, we’re going to contain it and try to minimize the damage to nearby structures, surround and drown as we call it,” said District Fire Chief Trevor Whyte.
“The concern that we had was propane, and I think there were four 200-pound propane tanks,” explained Whyte. “That was the cause of the evacuation on these homes.”
Cove Properties says it’s working with police to determine who is responsible for committing the act.
“They’re doing everything that they can do,” said Brennan. “They’re putting up security cameras.”
The developer adds it will rebuild the condo building “immediately.”
Meanwhile, Municipal Affairs Minister Ken Hughes says he’s interested in the results of the investigation.
“If there are learnings out of that, we’ll certainly take those on and take a look.”
It’s a “real concern, obviously, to see people’s potential homes destroyed in a fire like this.”
This isn’t the first fire to destroy a condo that is under construction.
In July 2007, a blaze in MacEwan destroyed a condo complex and several homes around it.
Last September, another fire gutted a building in Rutherford. Investigators have determined both of those were started by an arsonist.
“We’re going to take a good look at all of this because it’s not a pattern we want to see continue,” said Hughes.
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