Kamloops Fire Rescue and emergency support services volunteers attended Cherry Avenue overnight, where a fire occurred in an apartment building and displaced residents.
Kamloops Fire Rescue acting platoon captain Ken Hartt said fire crews were called around midnight to a structure fire at an apartment on Cherry Avenue, which is located at 435 Cherry Ave., including people reportedly trapped. Crews arrived on scene to smoke and flames coming from the rear of the building. Multiple people were rescued from the building.
“They put a ground ladder up and rescued two people off a back deck,” Hartt said, adding another person was rescued from a balcony at the front of the building. “They put some water on the fire at the same time as that, so that they could keep everybody safe.”
No injuries resulted, Hartt said. Crews extinguished the fire and searched the rest of the building. Nobody else was found.
Hartt said one apartment unit was “completely gutted,” while two units on either side sustained roof damage.
All of the residents from the building were evacuated, due to smoke damage.
City of Kamloops social and community services supervisor Ty Helgason said the emergency support services team was on scene to set up residents who had been displaced from the fire with three days of hotel accommodations, which is funded through Emergency Management BC, and help connect them to other services. Helgason said at least 46 people have been connected with emergency services.
"We're anticipating that number to continue to grow, as we connect with more reisdents," Helgason said, noting there were more residents evacuated from the building yet to connect with emergency support services.
The emergency support services team, partnered through KFR, the city and the Thompson Nicola Regional District, is comprised of about 80 volunteers and responds in situations like wildfires or floods and other scenarios in which people need to be evacuated.
KFR remained on scene on Tuesday morning, with the cause of the fire yet to be determined and under investigation. BC Hydro and FortisBC also attended to shut down utilities
