Cornwall Centre briefly evacuated after fire in elevator

A small fire at Regina’s Cornwall Centre caused the building to be evacuated Wednesday afternoon.

Deputy Fire Chief Gord Hewitt said Regina Fire and Protective Services received a call at about 2:54 p.m. that there was a potential fire in one of the stores at the Cornwall Centre.

The alarms had gone off and security had been advised that there was a fire at H&M.

“When we got there, our crews went up and they did find a pile of shirts in the elevator that had been on fire, but somebody in the mall acted quickly and extinguished it quickly with a fire extinguisher and so we didn’t have to do any fire suppression and there wasn’t really any damage,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt said there was just some cleanup that needed to be done from the fire extinguisher before people were let back into the mall.

“(It was a) fairly minor incident and no significant damage,” Hewitt said.

Regina Fire and Protective Services are investigating along with the Regina Police Service. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

Hewitt said the fire department had sent four pumps, a ladder truck and a command unit to deal with the potential commercial fire. He said by the time Regina Fire realized what it was, it was able to be handled by one crew.

READ MORE:

• ‘Hell I can’t describe:’ Residents recount Regina apartment fire
• Regina Fire says Centennial Street fire caused by cigarette butt
• Wheat City Metals fire could last days: deputy fire chief

With the faint smell of smoke in the air, hundreds of people were gathered outside of the Cornwall just after 3 p.m., some standing in the cold without jackets before the scene cleared up.

Ashlee Favel was going about her day at the mall when she heard over the intercom that the building was being evacuated.

“It was kind of scary at first, because all of a sudden everyone was just walking (out) …,” she said. “It’s just kind of scary when you come out and all the fire trucks and police are here.”

In an email, the Regina Police Service said it’s investigating along with Regina Fire to determine if the fire is criminal in nature.