'Improper disposal of smoking material' sparked $5M Saskatoon condo blaze

It took Saskatoon firefighters seven hours to get a condo fire under control and another seven-and-a-half hours to fully extinguish it.

“This was a large-scale fire and a difficult one to get under control,” Fire Chief Morgan Hackl said.

“The fire spread very quickly, and it required close to 80 staff rotating through the scene before it all over.”

Modern building construction includes vinyl siding, glued laminated timber and oriented strand board material that has glue content in it — and when it catches fire, the fire burns hot and moves quickly, he said.

"And that's what we had here. An exterior fire on the building that went up the vinyl siding and quickly moved into the open truss space in the roof."

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The building is located in the 300 block of 108th Street West.

The fire was reported just before 11:30 p.m. on Friday. It was caused by the improper disposal of smoking material in an exterior receptacle at the northeast corner of the property, and the receptacle was flammable and didn't have sand or water to extinguish the smoking material, Hackl said.

The condo unit contained 24 units and damages are estimated at $5 million. Fire crews helped rescue five people inside the units, some of whom had mobility issues, so crews "had to enter a very dangerous situation to rescue these people," Hackl said.

Hackl said he was concerned that the fire alarm in the condo building had not been activated and reminded the public to do so at the first detection of smoke or fire.

"Without these alarms sounding, there will be people inside the building that still aren’t aware they need to get out immediately.”

No one was hurt. All residents have been rehoused with family and friends, the Ministry of Social Services or Salvation Army, he said.