Downtown car fire forces 80 people from apartments

A fiery, smoky car forced 80 people from their apartments in downtown Regina early on Friday morning.

It started from a car fire in the parkade of the Palliser Place apartments at 1740 Hamilton Street, adjacent to the Cornwall Centre.

Deputy fire chief David Kinvig said the billowing smoke from the car forced firefighters on the scene to evacuate the entire building.

The smoke was going up, into the apartment suites above it, Kinvig said.

Firefighters got the call at about 1 a.m.

After they evacuated the building, they used big fans to clear the smoke away from it.

Of the 80 people who had to leave their suites, only two were taken to hospital by EMS crews; Kinvig didn’t know what their condition is, or if they sustained any injuries.

Firefighters had the car fire doused out by 3:36 a.m.; the deputy fire chief doesn’t know if it was suspicious.

As of 7:30 a.m., all but the two residents were back in their suites.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Joseph Ho