Saskatoon condo building sustains $5m in damage after huge blaze

Many people are now without a home after a massive fire tore through a condo building early Saturday morning.

The Saskatoon Fire Department (SFD) responded to the building at 108th Street West in the Sutherland neighbourhood after midnight. There was six fire engines, two ladder trucks, one rescue unit, a mobile emergency management command unit, two fire investigators and the battalion chief on the scene.

Saskatoon Fire Chief Morgan Hackl stressed that being there a few seconds later could have drastically changed the situation.

“We always talk about trying to achieve a four-minute travel time to all incidents in the community. It’s not every minute that matters, it’s every second with modern construction,” Hackl said during a news conference outside Station No. 5 on Central Avenue.

“Another couple of minutes would have dramatically changed this incident.”

Close to 80 staff were involved in battling the blaze, which took seven hours before it was brought under control.

Hackl says it took so long due to the type of material the building was made from.

“A structure like that that has vinyl siding, lots of different glue lam and oriented strand board material that has glue content in it,” he said. “When fire catches onto that product, it moves very quickly (and) it burns very hot.”

Nobody was injured despite firefighters having to rescue several people from the building.

Hackl praised their efforts.

“Some of those people with mobility issues in their suites could not get out, and we had to enter a very dangerous situation to rescue these people,” he said.

The fire investigator determined the blaze originated on the ground floor and the cause was improper disposal of smoking material.

Damage is estimated at around $5 million.

The burnt portion of the structure was partially taken down by an excavation company to properly extinguish the fire and reduce the risk of further collapse.