An apartment building in Parksville went up in flames Thursday night, displacing dozens of residents who don’t know when they’ll be allowed back home.
Fire and smoke could be seen shooting from the roof of the Ocean Terrace building in the 200-block of Island Highway at around 9:15 p.m.
“All of a sudden the alarms went off and people were banging on the doors, telling everybody to exit, there’s a fire on the roof,” said resident Cliff Cenerini.
“I had probably about eight minutes, I got out, I grabbed my bird, put on some clothes and grabbed my smokes.”
Crews swept the building and deployed a ladder to assist one woman who came out onto her balcony.
“Fire crews made way to her via a ladder, and then they did an assessment and ended up bringing her down the stairwell that was adjacent to her suite,” said Parksville Fire Chief Marc Norris.
The woman was treated for smoke inhalation at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, and all other residents made it out okay.
Crews eventually gained the upper hand on the fire, but not before it caused significant damage to units on the fourth floor.
Emergency social services was called to help find temporary housing for some 50 displaced residents of the building.
Talking with residents and witnesses involved in last night's big apartment fire in Parksville. 50 people displaced. Details on @CTVNewsVI. pic.twitter.com/tMdFbtkTSm
— Gord Kurbis (@CTVNewsGord) July 7, 2017
While some were allowed back in to gather possessions on Friday, no one will be allowed to reside in the building until engineers complete a structural assessment.
“We’re just trying to accommodate folks to get their necessities out of their units where we can quickly today,” Norris said Friday. “Then we’ll have the building assessed and see what we’re going to do in the mid and long-term.”
People who live at the complex say a roofing company had been doing tarring work earlier in the day, and while firefighters haven’t pinpointed the cause, they say it’s likely the fire started as a result of the work.
“When you’re running an open flame there’s always the risk of having something catch fire. I’d suspect that there was probably a smouldering ember somewhere on the roof deck and it just took time over several hours,” said Norris.
An investigation of the blaze is ongoing.
