Arson suspect arrested after 'intense' Spryfield fire forces tenants to flee

Halifax police have arrested a man for arson in connection with a fire in Spryfield, N.S., that forced tenants to flee a four-storey apartment building on Thursday morning.

"Information provided to police and fire investigators has led them to believethe fire had been deliberately set," Const. John MacLeod said in a press release Thursday afternoon.

Police arrested the 35-year-old man at 9:15 a.m. on Robie Street in Halifax.

Matthew Landry, who lives on the first floor of the Spencer Avenue apartment, said he was woken up by thebuilding's fire alarm.

"All the hallway was full of smoke and I saw flames shooting out buddy's door across the hall where the fire was," he said."It scared the daylights out of me."

Two residentsclimbed down a ladder to escape the building.

Jordan Hobin lives next door to the apartment where the fire broke out. He said he also tried to put out the fire.

"We had the door open and me and another guy were trying to fight the fire with extinguishers but it was just toobad;we couldn't see and couldn't get to it," he said.

"We went around the back and tried to put it out with the extinguishers through the window, but it was just too intense."

Dave Slaunwhite, the district chief for Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency, said the call came at 7:44 a.m. He said two people weretaken out of the thirdfloor and treated by EHS for minor injuries.

"When the first crews arrived we had heavy fire coming out of the first and second floor," he said."The crews did a great job in knocking that fire down quickly."

In an email, a city spokesperson said traffic on Spencer Avenue and Lewis Street was blocked to the publicand advised that people avoid the area.