One person was sent to the hospital with minor injuries following a Wednesday morning fire.
The fire broke out just before 7 a.m. in a second-floor apartment unit of a four-storey building on Franklyn Road, in Kelowna’s Rutland neighbourhood.
Witnesses on scene said it prompted a swift and successful response from the Kelowna Fire Department.
“They did get a quick knockdown,” fire captain Larry Weirsma said. “They saw flames and smoke coming out of the second floor window for unit 213 and luckily they were able to hit it hard from the outside quickly and then make entrance on the balcony from that unit.”
The unit was occupied by two people at the time. The flames erupted in a bedroom, where, according to building manager Andrew Laforge, one of the tenants was sleeping at the time,
“He was sleeping, he woke up and he saw the fire so warned his partner in the other room and they got out,” Laforge told Global News.
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The man was taken to hospital with injuries.
“The gentleman in that building, in that unit in the bedroom, did have some superficial burns, I believe to his face and hands, maybe some smoke inhalation and is in hospital at this point,” Weirsma said.
The fire was contained to the one-bedroom with some extension on the exterior.
In total, five people have been displaced, two in the unit involved and three people who live directly below as a result of their suite sustaining water damage.
The displaced residents are being cared for by Emergency Support Services.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.