Watch the video above: Fire displaces Saskatoon apartment residents
SASKATOON – Smoke filled the second and third floor hallways of a Saskatoon apartment building early Sunday morning, forcing residents to descend from their balconies with the help of firefighters.
Just after 1 a.m., members of the Saskatoon Fire Department responded to a report of a structure fire at 510 Avenue X South.
Around 40 people were displaced due to the fire. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, which was located in apartment 307.
When Darren Hall came home to his family Sunday morning he found their apartment filled with smoke.
“I just came home just in time. I mean, I was scared because my family would’ve slept through that smoke, and who knows if I wasn’t even just ten minutes late, I wouldn’t have been able to go out there and save them,” said Hall.
Hall sprung into action and wrapped his three children in blankets. He says smoke was filling their lungs and they could barely breathe.
“I tried to exit out the front, being on the top floor, we were already smoked out through that way, so I went running to the other exit and that was smoked out, so I ran into the nearest apartment’s balcony and took my kids there.”
Firefighters arrived on scene and found smoke showing from a third floor apartment. Hall’s apartment was located directly above the third floor suite where the fire broke out.
Apartment occupants had moved to their balconies to await evacuation. Two aerials were set up by fire crews on each end of the building to assist residents to the ground.
“We set up two aerial ladders and got them down from the balconies,” said Battalion Chief Marc DeGirolamo.
All occupants were evacuated safely.
“They were evacuated into some city buses and then the Salvation Army came and looked after them from there,” said DeGirolamo.
The Salvation Army says a pregnant woman was sent to hospital for smoke inhalation and released.
“27 of them came with us, because the others were able to find accommodation with family,” said Malba Holliday, the Salvation Army’s community services executive director.
A sign has been placed on door of the building warning residents they won’t be able to re-enter until noon on Monday.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Total damage to the building is estimated at $200,000.
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