Apartment Building, Residential St. Catharines, ON, Canada – Sprinklers activate during fire at 7-story apartment building April 30, 2015 viking210 Firefighters evacuated the seven-floor apartment building at 5 Louis Ave. Tuesday after a blaze broke out on the fifth floor. About 200 residents were forced from their homes for about six hours until the building was considered safe to re-enter. “There was a lot of smoke that migrated throughout the building — so it had to be ventilated,” Deputy Fire Chief Larry Jones said. “We had to make sure all the units were safe. “We went floor by floor with our air monitoring equipment and kept the fans going until we had zero readings.” The Salvation Army and Red Cross provided the residents with sandwiches and coffee. Two buses from the City of St. Catharines were used as shelter. The Humane Society also attended, to assist with the pets of the residents. Some tenants from the fifth floor will have to wait to re-occupy their units, Jones said. The Red Cross is helping them. “Once we are finished our investigation, cleanup will commence,” Jones said. “The cleanup will focus on getting the displaced tenants back first. I can’t imagine it will be too long. There was some water damage to the floors. We had to isolate part of the sprinkler system so that will have to be repaired. They will have to deodorize and clean the walls. The units — for the most part — are fine.
