Fire crews had to rescue 13 people from “several” elevators after a small fire in a downtown Calgary office building Thursday afternoon.
Calgary Fire Department spokesperson Carol Henke said a 911 call was placed at about 12:40 p.m. reporting a fire at 425 1 Street S.W. Crews found the fire on the 35th floor in an electrical room.
“They evacuated the building as a precaution,” Henke said. “That panel actually controls five of the elevators in the building, so we did have an issue with two elevators having people inside that were affected by the fire.”
Henke said those people were rescued and suffered no injuries.
She said because there were so many people in the building, a second alarm was called, with multiple fire trucks responding.
“We want to ensure we have all the appropriate resource on hand to deal with this type of incident.”
Henke emphasized all employees in highrise buildings need to know the proper emergency protocols, which vary from building to building.
“When a building goes into alarm, it might not be because of a fire…So it really is important to know what you, as an employee, need to do.”
Officials are monitoring the air to make sure there are no quality issues.
Henke said this fire doesn’t appear to be suspicious, but an investigation will be completed per standard practice.
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