UPDATE: The City of Kelowna is keeping Glenmore Road in and around the Union Road area of Tuesday morning’s fire closed until further notice as the structural integrity of the crane on site is unknown following the blaze.
“Sidewalks on Glenmore between Cross and Scenic will be closed to foot traffic as will sidewalks on Union between Glenmore Road and Snowsell Street North,” the City said.
Detours will be in place until further notice.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A four-storey condo project went up in flames on Tuesday morning in Kelowna’s North Glenmore neighbourhood.
The spectacular and large blaze quickly engulfed the under-construction wood structure.
The Wyndam Crescent condo building was said to be unoccupied, according to neighbouring development representative Jesse East.
“There was some damage to our building, but no one was hurt,” the Parklane development sales representative from RE/MAX told Global News.
Emergency crews began getting calls about the inferno at 129 Wyndam Crescent, near Glenmore and Union roads, just after 6 a.m., on Tuesday, according to RCMP.
Police worked on evacuating residents from the Parklane townhomes and other buildings located across from North Glenmore Elementary school on Union Road due to the danger posed by the fire, RCMP said.
Mitch Wilde said he was driving by the flames just after 6 a.m., and could feel the intense heat radiate through to the inside of his vehicle.
East said friends began calling him just after 6 a.m., believing it was the Parklane development on fire.
He tells Global News he was relieved to discover the flames were, in fact, at the neighbouring development, a building that he says was slated to be fully rented out when complete.
“Only one unit of our building sustained some damaged due to the fire,” East said.
The fire suppression effort continued for several hours with heavy smoke lingering in the North Glenmore Valley.
The Kelowna Fire Department has yet to release information about the blaze.
The fire’s cause is undetermined and is under investigation.
Global News has reached out to Wyndham Developments Ltd., the company listed as owning the project, for comment.
The company is owned by Balwinder Dhaliwal, Vikram Sahiwal, Sukhdev Nahal and Harpreet Nahal and lists an address in Vernon as its head office.