Two people were taken to hospital and between 60 and 70 others have been displaced after flames tore through a seniors’ apartment complex in the Lynn Valley area of North Vancouver on Saturday.
The fire at the Silverlynn Apartments in the 1300-block of 27th Street generated a massive plume of smoke that could be seen from across the region.
The fire was so intense that it drew upwards of 60 firefighters and “every single apparatus” from all three North Shore fire departments, District of North Vancouver Fire Chief Mike Danks told reporters.
Thankfully, he said, all residents were accounted for.
“They are all safe as far as we know, so that is very positive news for us,” he said.
Ten people had to be rescued from their balconies, and five people were treated in total — two of them sent to hospital in stable condition. Danks said he didn’t know what their injuries were, but believed them to be minor.
“This fire was incredibly intense. A good indication is when you go into a fire and your ears are burning? That’s too hot to be in there,” Danks said.
“They continued to fight the fire until it got to a point where it became too extreme, there was an explosion, windows blew out, at that point, crews had to retreat.”
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The same apartment complex was the site of another serious fire in May 2022 that claimed one life and displaced 70 residents.
Danks said about half the building was still under renovations from that previous fire, and that the construction area is where the fire is believed to have started.
“They did everything they could to suppress this fire as quickly as possible, but when a building is under construction, it’s very hard to do that when you don’t have drywall that stops the spread of fire,” he said.
Photos from an RCMP drone revealed that one of the complex’s wings was virtually gutted.
Danks added that the building suffered “significant damage.”
“The part that was renovated is completely collapsed at this point. The new residence that people are in now, there are some units that haven’t been affected by flame but they are affected by water damage and by smoke damage,” he said.
“This is not a good day for those residents.”
About 100 people normally live in the building, but Danks said there were fewer occupants due to the renovations.
Residents of the adjacent Craftman Estates were also evacuated from their homes due to the heavy smoke.
In a Facebook post, District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little said municipal services were fully activated and attending to evacuated residents.
“We are waiting on a full assessment on the condition of the residents as many people were dispersed when crews arrived and a full accounting of the people has not been completed yet,” Little said.
“It will take hours for the fire to be fully out, please give the crews plenty of space to work.”
An emergency reception centre for displaced residents has been set up at the Westlynn Baptist Church at 1341 27th St.
Metro Vancouver said it was monitoring air quality as a result of the fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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