A fire that may have started on the balcony a four-story apartment building in the Endowment Lands near the Univeristy of British Columbia, may have caused about $1 million worth of damage.
When they arrived at the scene on Friday, Emergency Response Crews used a chainsaw to cut a hole in the roof of the building after a security system prevented them from getting inside.
But a team of 45 firefighters, who were involved in dousing the blaze, could not prevent the building's roof from collapsing.
CTV has learned that the fire started on the third floor and spread to the fourth floor of the woodframe building.
It appears that the building was one of the newer housing developments located on Endowment Lands in the vicinity of the university in west Vancouver.
About 50 residents were evacuated. But no injuries have been reported so far.
Dept. Chief Tom McEwen of the Vancouver Fire & Rescue Service said the fire likely caused about $1 million worth of damage.
Firefighting crews are not sure how the fire started. However, they said the condominium complex's strata council should consider changing its rules relating to balcony barbecues.
With a report by CTV British Columbia's St. John Alexander.
