Fire at downtown Vancouver SRO sends 2 to hospital

Vancouver firefighters knocked down a fire in a SRO building on Cordova Street on Wednesday, Jan. 10. (Image credit: Vancouver Fire Rescue Services/X)

Two people were taken to hospital after a fire broke out at an SRO building in downtown Vancouver Wednesday morning.

BC Emergency Health Services said the call came in at 11:09 a.m. for a structure fire on Cordova Street between Columbia and Carrall streets.

“We had one person taken for smoke inahliation and they’ve been transported to BCEHS,” said Matthew Trudeau with Vancouver Fire Rescue Services.

One firefighter was also taken to hospital after suffering a lower leg injury.

Crews located the blaze in a third-floor suite, but the damage from smoke and water sprinklers spread throughout the building, according to Trudeau.

James Freed heard screaming while he was working nearby, and rushed over to help.

“I saw lots of smoke and a lady on the third floor and she was yelling and screaming,” Freed said. “She couldn’t get out and she started to go down the fire escape and I went to the ladder to bring her down. Her face was partially melted, but she was alive.”

There are approximately 40 units in the SRO, but Trudeau couldn’t say exactly how many people would be displaced.

“We’ve got investigators on scene and we’re working to determine a cause at this time,” he said.

Alarms were sounding and the sprinklers were activated, he added.

“Fourteen apparatus responded, mostly because of the occupancy structure of it being an SRO, being high-risk occupancy.”

The road was closed between Columbia and Carrall streets while firefighters extinguished the blaze, and several buses were re-routed.

Crews knocked down the fire and the street reopened around 1 p.m.