Apartment fire in east Edmonton shuts down part of 101 Avenue

Hours after they were first called to respond to an east Edmonton blaze, officials said firefighters were still trying to bring an apartment fire under control in the Terrace Heights neighbourhood late Monday afternoon.

Smoke could be seen billowing from a two-storey building on 101 Avenue near 73 Street after crews were called in at around 5:15 a.m. The property is known to area residents as the “pink palace.”

Scott Macdonald, Deputy Chief of Operations with Edmonton Fire Rescue, said the building is known to police and is identified as a “location of interest” for firefighters.

“It just means that we’ve been to it before and we do inspections and stuff,” Macdonald said. He said the structural integrity of the building was compromised because the building was fully involved.

Watch below: An early morning fire has destroyed an apartment building in the Terrace Heights neighbourhood. Quinn Ohler reports.

3:31 Edmonton apartment building gutted by fire

Edmonton police confirmed the apartment building has generated many calls for service for southeast division patrol members.

A police spokesperson said the types of calls officers have been dispatched to included drug and alcohol-related incidents, stolen autos, and some weapons-related calls. Police last responded to the property this past Saturday.

Police said 101 Avenue, between 71 and 75 streets, was closed in both directions because of the fire. Drivers were asked to avoid the area.

The road closure was expected to last several hours.

Macdonald said as far as he knew, no one was injured. Displaced residents are receiving assistance from city’s emergency support response team. It’s not yet known how many residents are affected.

According to officials, concerns about the building’s structural integrity limited firefighters’ ability to access the blaze from the inside for several hours.

The cause of the fire is under investigation and a damage estimate has yet to be completed.