Ground floor apartment suite fire in the Highland Green Estates neighbourhood on Wednesday. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

By Alessia Proietti

$50,000 in damages

Apartment suite fire in Highland Green Estates sends one man to hospital

Mar 6, 2024 | 5:06 PM

A fire in an apartment suite in the Highland Green Estates neighbourhood on Wednesday has sent one man to hospital.

Andrew Towers, Fire Safety Codes Officer with Red Deer Emergency Services confirmed that crews were dispatched at 10:15 a.m. to a four-storey apartment building at 5140 62 Street.

While initially called in by the building’s fire alarm system, he says crews realized it was a structure fire upon arrival, with smoke coming out from the sliding patio door of a suite on the ground level.

Crews say a witness was standing outside of the patio door urging a male tenant in the suite to leave his apartment. Towers says the Fire Captain also engaged in conversation with the tenant, but it is unclear why he wouldn’t leave the suite.

Crews used a dry chemical fire extinguisher to put down some flames and pull the tenant out of the apartment. They then brought a handline to put out the remainder of the fire.

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He says the individual was transported to hospital for various injuries but could not give further details to the extent.

Towers says the cause of the fire is still under investigation but the main takeaway is to properly dispose of smoking materials.

“I’m not saying that’s the cause of this fire; however, inside the suite there were a number of smoking materials throughout so just making sure you’re disposing in a sturdy non-combustible ashtray for smokers materials,” he said.

Towers says there is fire damage throughout the entire one-bedroom apartment, totalling around $50,000 worth, not including personal items. The tenant cannot live in the suite, he says, and it is unconfirmed yet if they have plans for where to live.

While restoration has already begun in the building’s corridor, Towers says the fire was well contained in the suite due to the heat detector’s prompt call to fire crews and is not noticeable from the corridor. The apartment did not have a sprinkler system.

A total of 17 firefighters were dispatched and left around 11:45 a.m.

He says no pets were in the suite, and no other injuries were reported as there was only the one male inside.

Fire crews at an apartment suite fire on 5140 62 Street in Red Deer on Wednesday. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

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