Person unaccounted for after New Year’s Eve building fire

One person is unaccounted for after a New Year’s Eve fire on Avenue R South.

Saskatoon police reported the structure fire to the Saskatoon Fire Department (SFD) at 9:21 p.m. Crews were dispatched and a safety officer was chosen to oversee the incident.

The fire was one of 36 incidents fire crews battled during a 14-hour shift from Friday night through Saturday morning.

Firefighters attacked the blaze from the outside because ways inside the building were limited by the flames and unsafe conditions.

The SFD reported some firefighters were assigned to protect neighbouring houses, which were deemed at risk of also catching fire.

Around 3:19 a.m. an excavator had to take down part of the burning building after a wall was identified to be an immediate risk of failure because of the fire’s impact. Loss of structural strenght and the weight of water freezing to the structure were two factors that contributed to the wall being compromised. This helped crews better extinguish a part of the fire that was previously not accessible from the outside.

Saskatoon police are following up on one resident of the building who has not yet been accounted for.

SaskEnergy and Saskatoon Light and Power were notified to disconnect service to the building for safety reasons. The City of Saskatoon spread sand on the streets and sidewalks surrounding the building that became icy because of the water used to put out the blaze.

Three fire engines, a ladder truck, a rescue unit, the Battalion Chief and a fire investigator were dispatched to the scene. Off-duty firefighters were called in to operate reserve fire engines during the blaze and 10 additional fire crews were rotated through the scene to avoid cold exposure and give relief to those battling the flames. SFD maintenance vehicles switched out equipment.

Fire crews left the scene just before 8 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2o22.

The fire investigator was not able to conduct an examination for the cause and origin of the fire. Damage to the structure is estimated at $150,000 and the area around the building has been fenced off with a notice of closure put on the property by the SFD.

The remainder of the building will be demolished as soon as is practical, the SFD said.

No firefighters were injured in the fire.