Dozens of people have been forcedfrom their homes after a third-floor suite in a New Westminster apartment building caught fire early Saturday morning.
Assistant Fire Chief Sam Cirillo said when crews arrived at the apartment, located in the 300-block of Hospital Street, the unit was already engulfed in flames.
The building was safely evacuated, and no casualties or injuries have been reported. "Nobody was found in the suite, at this particular time at least," Cirillo said.
Resident Don Rock says he recently moved into the building, and lives right next to the unit that caught fire. "I woke up to the alarm going off," he said. "I could feel the heat coming through the wall."
"When I looked out the window right next to me, adjacent to my bedroom flames were shooting out 10, 20 feet."
New Westminster Police Sgt. Bruce Carrie said the department's Victim Services Unit had secured 19 hotel rooms to house displaced residents on Saturday night.
There is no word on when they will be allowed to return home, or how much damage the blaze did to neighbouring units.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but police do not believe it was intentionally set. "Nothing indicates at this time that it was suspicious in nature," Carrie said.
