Police and fire investigators are probing a destructive overnight fire in Burnaby, B.C., that displaced scores of people and that security video suggests may have been deliberately set.
About 100 people were left homeless by the fire in the apartment building at Jersey Avenue and Kingsway, and two people were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.
Crews were called around 12:30 a.m. and the fire was upgraded several times to a four-alarm response, drawing more than 50 firefighters from across the city.
“Suddenly the alarm started,” resident Alexy Samuilov told Global News. “Very fast smoke everywhere, only seven minutes we go with our kids outside.”
Assistant Chief Gavin Summers said firefighters didn’t put the “deep-seated” fire down until around 6 a.m.
“It was an extremely challenging fire. The lobby was fully involved. The fire was emanating from the lobby,” he said.
“We had extension into the second and third floors. We quickly evacuated the building, we rescued (two) people on the second floor; they were taken to Burnaby General Hospital. Still challenging conditions, it got into the walls, into the floors.”
Summers said the older building had a wood structure and no sprinklers, adding to the challenge.
Global News has obtained security video that appears to show two people deliberately setting the fire.
In the video, two people can be seen walking up to the building’s entryway holding a container, where they appear to pour out an accelerant. Seconds later there is a bright flash and the duo can be seen running away.
Burnaby RCMP Cpl. Mike Kalanj confirmed police were investigating the incident as arson.
“It seems pretty obvious what we are looking at here. We’re just looking for the public to come forward if they know anything, if they have video in the area, if they heard anything or saw anything,” he said.
“There’s at least one maybe two vehicles that possibly caught something on camera that could help us out.”
Summers said there had been no reports of missing residents, but that fire crews were still unable to access one part of the building to search it and make sure, due to hazardous conditions.
“We’ve had a roof collapse, the third floor collapse and the second floor collapse, so it’s a very dangerous scene,” he said.
Burnaby RCMP and the Burnaby Fire Department are now investigating the cause.