No one hurt in fire at Kitchener apartment building

Crews respond to a fire at an apartment building in Kitchener's Stanley Park neighbourhood on Jan. 11, 2024. (Stefanie Davis/CTV Kitchener)

Tenants were evacuated from an apartment building in Kitchener’s Stanley Park neighbourhood after flames broke out there Thursday.

Kitchener Fire Department platoon chief Jeff Noble said no one was injured.

Crews were called to the building at 12:34 pm. Four stations responded.

The fire started in a ground-level unit. Noble said it appears to have originated on the unit’s enclosed balcony, where a fan shorted out. It’s been labelled as an electrical fire.

The platoon chief said the people in that unit were not there when the fire started and they won’t be able to return home immediately because of smoke damage.

Residents throughout the rest of the building are now able to return.

Laura Schell, a building resident, said she headed downstairs as soon as the fire alarms went off.

“We headed right down the stairwell and saw the corner unit on fire and the fire department was already on its way. Before you knew it, everyone was here, buses were here,” she said.

“It’s like you’re hoping nothing happened -- you really hope nothing happened and that everyone is okay as you go downstairs. It’s a big building and you don’t want anyone to be hurt. That’s what’s going through your mind.”