Fire at Coquitlam condo complex leaves at least 100 homeless

At least 100 people are without a home this morning after a fire destroyed a four-storey apartment building in Coquitlam, B.C.

The fire broke out around 4 p.m. Mondayat2915Glen Dr.near Pacific Street.

• READ MORE 4-alarm fire at Coquitlam apartment complex

No one was injured, but residents who were put up at a nearby reception centre are still not being allowed access to the badly damaged building. Many of them returned to the scene of the fire today to have a look.

Despite the disruption to their lives, one residentcried tears of happinesstoday.

Helpful firefighters went back inside the building to look for apet cockatielthe manfeared would not survive. They found the bird's cage knocked over and the bird flying around the room.

Paul, who declined to give his last name, says he was only a week away from moving. He said he had been "sick with worry" when he was returning home from work and couldn't get into his suite to check on his pet, 'Moxie' because of the fire.

When, Moxiewas reunited with him,Paul, broke down in tears.

Coquitlam fire chief WadePierlotsaid the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

"There will bea lot of interviewing that will go on behind the scenes the residents of the building, what they saw, look at all kinds of video footage, things like thatand we'll start to determine what we think the cause was," he toldThe Early Edition.

Pierlot said the building didn't have sprinklers, nor were they required when itwas built sometime in the 1980s.

He said there is extensive damage tothe third and fourth floors and water damage on the first and second floors, and it could be months before residents are able to move back in.

City official Kathleen Vincentsaid residents will have to wait a while longer before they get access.

"Our fire crews will remain on scene and complete their investigation. After they've completed theirwork, they release the building to a restoration company and then it would be that restoration company that provides access to the building once it's safe to do so," Vincent told CBC News.