50 people evacuated after fire in garbage chute at high-rise

Around 6:30 p.m. on Monday, firefighters were called to a high-rise residential building in the Britannia Heights area of the city.

Crews responded to the 800 block of Pinecrest Road and saw heavy black smoke coming from the second floor of the structure. People evacuated and two OC Transpo buses were brought to the scene to shelter people from the cold.

Firefighters got to work with a hose line and found two bags of garbage were on fire lodged inside the disposal chute. Heading to the garbage room they had to separate the dumpster from the compactor to pull the garbage out of the chute.

Both bags were doused with water and the fire was declared under control 10 minutes after officials were called. “Extensive” ventilation operations were needed on the second and third floors with crews monitoring the air quality until it was deemed safe.

According to officials, about 50 people needed to evacuate the building.