Fire forces evacuation of Vancouver apartment building

Vancouver firefighters quickly extinguished a fire in the alley behind an apartment building Thursday night, but had difficulty accessing parts of the building's interior.

Mattresses and garbage in the alley at 609 Gore Ave. caught fire just after 11 p.m., forcing the building's residents outside.

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Vancouver Fire Battalion Chief Mike Sereda said the fire was quickly upgraded to a first alarm 'working fire.'

"It was upgraded because the flames were lapping up the side of the building," said Sereda. "As the flames reach high up, they start burning, and we're always worried about them going through a window, or some other opening in the building."

Smoke spread throughout the six-floor brick building, andfirefighters had trouble accessing sections of the building's interior.

"It's a difficult building to be in," said Sereda. "They have some renovations, and some older hallways that are in need of some repair, so it was difficult finding the exact location where the fire was on the outside from the inside."

One resident said his neighbours above the alley often smoke in their apartments, flicking cigarette butts out the windows. However,Sereda said it's too early to say exactly how the fire started, though hesaid it was probably human-caused.

"Mattresses don't go up by themselves, but whether it was intentional or accidental, we don't know," he said.