Around 4:30 Saturday morning, Moncton firefighters were called to a 10 storey residential high rise at 50 Cameron Street.
Platoon Chief Rob Brine says the fire was reported on the eighth floor of the apartment building.
“Firefighters had to go up the stairs, eight flights of stairs, because the elevators, once the fire alarm goes off, turns off,” says Brine. “So when they reached the fire floor, they experienced heavy smoke, the smoke conditions were almost down to the floor level on the eighth floor.”
Brine says the woman in the apartment where the fire began was taken to hospital for treatment – and her unit is a total loss, despite great work from the firefighters.
He says four of Moncton’s five stations responded to the call, to help fight the fire, and evacuate residents.
Brine says all residents are not allowed back into the building until it has been properly ventilated, and the Red Cross Canada Atlantic region Communications Director Dan Bedell says they have volunteers providing help to residents unable to return home.
Fire investigators are on scene trying to determine the cause.