One person was taken to hospital and two dozen have been displaced after a fire in a Port Alberni apartment building early Sunday morning.
A video shared online by the Port Alberni Fire Department around 5 a.m. shows flames inside a second-floor unit while rising smoke chars the exterior of the building.
Fire crews were able to keep the fire contained to the suite where it started, which was heavily damaged by fire, said Fire Chief Mike Owens. Some other suites suffered smoke damage or water damage.
“It certainly could have been a lot worse,” he said.
Twenty-four displaced residents signed up for support from Emergency Social Services.
Many people managed to get out on their own, and firefighters rescued two who were unable to escape, Owens said. Paramedics assessed people at the scene and one person was taken to hospital.
The fire department is investigating the cause of the fire, but there’s no indication it was suspicious, Owens said.
The department has turned the building, except for the unit where the fire started, over to the owners and their insurance company, “with the hopes that they’re going to be able to go in, evaluate the suites aside from the suite of origin, restore power to the building and then start to get people back in the building sooner than later,” Owens said.
