Thirty-eight people are displaced after an overnight fire ripped through an apartment complex in Gatineau.
Crews were called to the building at 160 rue de Lausanne in Gatineau just after 7 o’clock Saturday night.
Arwa Bacher lives in the building next door. She says she was watching TV when she smelt smoke.
She says “The fire was going up and we were all pretty scared.” She and her mother Samira Bouthelega rushed outside.
“Everybody was scared because the fire didn’t want to stop,” Bouthelega says.
Gatineau Fire says the blaze started in the kitchen of an apartment on the ground floor. The blaze quickly spread throughout the entire complex. All residents in the 18 apartments are now displaced. A total of 38 people are being assisted by the Red Cross.
“Kitchen fires happen too often, even in 2018” says Stéphane Dénis from Gatineau Fire. “People have to use appropriate appliances; don’t use cooking oil directly in fryer ban, obviously it led to this cause.”
Damages are estimated at 300-thousand dollars.
Bacher says many of the residents told her they thought it was a false alarm, and some left their homes without jackets.
“It was really bad for the people inside, plus its winter, its cold people didn’t have their coats, and they brought a bus for people to stay inside.”
It is not clear when people will be allowed back inside their homes. A meeting is said to be planned for Monday for displaced residents.
The fire remains under investigation.
