Editor’s note: A spokesperson with the Calgary fire department has since confirmed the fire started as a result of ethanol being poured into an ornamental candle. An update to this story can be read here.
A house cat is dead and a woman is seriously burned after a fire broke out at an apartment building in the Falconridge neighbourhood in northeast Calgary on Sunday.
Firefighters responded to the 300 block of Falshire Drive N.E. just after 1 p.m.
Officials said one occupant was cleaning with ethanol and caused the small fire, which was contained to one room.
The rest of the apartment was evacuated as a precaution, and people were let back in later Sunday afternoon.
Calgary Battalion Fire Chief Stu Laird said a woman suffered burns to her hands and arms — what EMS called a stable, non-life-threatening condition with “serious soft tissue injuries.”
Laird said he wasn’t certain how many people were inside at the time.
He also added that the cat died from smoke inhalation.