Firefighters battle apartment fire in Heritage neighbourhood

Regina firefighters had their hands full Thursday morning.

An apartment building on the corner of 12th Avenue and Halifax Street was engulfed in flames.

Crews were called to the scene shortly before 9:30 a.m., and they were still battling the fire late in the morning.

Firefighters at an apartment blaze on 12th & Halifax in #yqr. Traffic blocked off on all four sides from the intersection.@CJMENews pic.twitter.com/mOMZ5nV0sM

— Dom Lucyk (@DomLucyk) January 13, 2022

A small crowd of people gathered to watch the billowing smoke and firefighters trying to beat back the flames.

Some of them worked or lived nearby.

Barry Rope lives in an apartment about half a block away on 12th Avenue. It was a shock for him when he first noticed what was going on.

“I was coming in from breakfast. My room was smelling like smoke, it was coming down from the hallway … So I go into my room, I look out my window and I see this big, huge smoke coming from behind,” he said.

“Now, I’m spraying Febreeze and that so I can get all the smoke out of my room.”

They're going through so much water, Halifax is flooded just south of the intersection with 11th. #yqr @CJMENews pic.twitter.com/gzpDPXInKU

— Dom Lucyk (@DomLucyk) January 13, 2022

The power also went off at his building, and workers from the nearby Salvation Army said it was the same for them.

In the morning, firefighters told 980 CJME they weren’t sure if anybody was still inside the building. The fire was just too strong for them to get in and check every unit.