CALGARY- Police say Saturday’s massive blaze at Centre Street and 17 Avenue S.W. is not believed to be criminal, and fire officials have wrapped up their work on the site.
The area has been fenced off as a safety precaution, and some lanes on 17 Ave. remain closed. The city said Monday the site has been turned over to the Inspections and Permit Services (IPS) department; any further demolition will be overseen by a structural engineer hired by the owners and their insurance company.
The investigation into the cause of the fire continues, and officials ask anyone with photos or video to email fire investigator Brad McDonald at brad.mcdonald@calgary.ca.
“Calgarians are very willing to help and we’ve had a great response,” said Carol Henke, spokesperson with Calgary Fire Department. “We’re just looking for those videos, those shots that come right at the beginning of the fire, so that we can really identify the exact origin of the fire. So if anyone has that, that would be helpful, and thank you to everyone who has already supplied us with video and pictures.”
Fire crews used aerials, elevated platforms and master streams to fight and contain the fire, which started just before noon on Saturday. No injuries were reported in the four-storey condo building that was under construction at the time.
Debris from the fire was landing four to five blocks away from the burning building, as large bursts of embers shot a distance of several blocks, resulting in some flare-ups on nearby properties.
WATCH: Fire crews battle massive fire south of downtown
Rob Holly witnessed the beginning of the fire and said he heard what sounded like a propane tank explode.
“It looks like they left a propane torch or something like that,” Holly told Global News on Saturday. “To the best of my knowledge it was all burning in the centre. It took a while for it to get going but it didn’t take long to burn after it started.”
Fire investigators have not yet completed their investigation and wouldn’t confirm Monday whether work being done at the building may have started the blaze.
With files from Carolyn Kury de Castillo, Lisa MacGregor and Phil Heidenreich
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