Two people are in critical condition in hospital on Thursday morning after an early morning fire at a supportive housing apartment building in Burnaby.
Capt. Paul Rushton, a fire information officer with the Burnaby Fire Department, said the call came in around 3 a.m. for a fire at 7272 Kingsway Ave.
When firefighters arrived, Rushton said they could see smoke and fire on the fourth floor.
Smoke eventually made its way up to the 12th floor, Rushton confirmed.
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Thirteen residents were taken to the hospital and up to 20 people have been displaced from the building.
Paramedic public information officer Brian Twaites said BC Emergency Health Services received a call at 2:52 a.m.
“Twelve ambulances with primary care paramedics, three ambulances with advanced care paramedics and a paramedic supervisor responded to the scene. Two additional paramedic supervisors provided assistance at the hospital. Paramedics provided emergency medical treatment to 15 patients, of these three were transported to hospital in serious condition and 12 were transported in stable condition.”
In total, 48 firefighters responded to the blaze.
“The fire was extinguished, however, lithium-ion batteries from e-scooters and e-bikes added complexity to the fire,” Rushton said.
“The fire is currently under investigation at this time, we don’t know how it was started or what caused the fire at this time. All we know is we want to make sure that we’re thinking about those people that have been injured and displaced from this fire, which is really important at this time.”
Burnaby’s fire investigation team is on the scene and looking into what happened.
Rushton confirmed that the building did not have any sprinklers.
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