An apartment building in Vancouver's West Side has been evacuated after a man was found dead in the doorway of an amateur drug lab in the building.
With a chemical called red phosphorus -- a critical ingredient in the manufacturing of crystal meth -- potentially still in the air, residents haven't been told when they can go home.
"It's frightening, it's frightening that this could be happening in your building," one resident, Trish Mullen-Woolford, told CTV News.
"I mean my husband and I live there and it's scary to think that you could wake up in the middle of the night if something exploded or there was a fire," she said.
The 44-year-old's body was found by a family member in the apartment building at Broadway near Balsam just before 6 p.m. Saturday, police said.
Someone called 9-1-1, and officials found all the ingredients of a drug lab.
"We found paraphernalia, chemicals, and other beakers and such that would be consistent with a methamphetamine lab," said Insp. Dave Nelmes of the Vancouver Police.
A relative of the dead man and two firefighters suffered minor exposure to chemicals in the room, but they are expected to recover, said Vancouver Fire Department Battallion Chief Jeff Dighton.
It's unclear how dangerous the situation is, and residents haven't been told when they can go back home.
Mullen-Woolford said she was frightened, but not surprised.
"There have been some late night parties," she said. "I have called the cops a couple of times on account of it. We could smell pot through the vents. Definitely some drug use going on in the building."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Penny Daflos
