Residents of SW Calgary seniors’ home shelter-in-place during building fire

Residents of a senior citizens’ home in Calgary’s southwest were forced to shelter-in-place Wednesday morning after a fire broke out in their complex.

Alex Kwan with the Calgary Fire Department says crews were called to the building on 25 Avenue and 2 Street SW in Mission shortly after 7 a.m. for reports of a structure fire.

Flames had broken out on the fourth floor of the multi-storey building, Kwan explains, and were put out by the building’s sprinkler system and a resident.

Building residents — many of who were using mobility aids such as walkers and wheelchairs — were able to take cover with staff.

“Definitely in these buildings, some of the challenges can be large evacuations that we have a lot of residents that use wheelchairs or other mobility aids,” Kwan said. “So we’re grateful that everybody followed their procedures because I talked to one of the staff here and they do routine drills with all the residents.”

Several units on the fourth floor are damaged and residents with units below where the fire started are also damaged from the sprinkler system.

The person living in the unit where the fire started was assessed by paramedics but not taken to hospital.

No other injuries were reported.

Residents living in units that weren’t impacted have been able to re-enter their units.

Crews are still on scene helping to clear water.

A fire investigator is also on scene and has started an investigation into the cause of the fire.