Update: Helen Janzen had just returned pulled into her parking spot beneath her Rutland condominium building when she noticed smoke coming out from under the hood of her two-year-old Chrysler 200 Friday afternoon.
That smoke quickly turned into a short-lived two-alarm fire that was quickly knocked down by 琉璃神社 Firefighters.
But not before some scary moments for building residents, and even some neighbours.
"You never think anything like that is going to happen to you," said a visibly shaken Janzen, as she stood outside Birch Manor at 530 Franklyn Road.
According to KFD platoon Capt. Tim Light, when firefighters arrived on scene, they could seen flames shooting out from the underground parking area at the rear of the building at the corner of Leathhead Road and Franklyn.
The flames were melting a small patch of the vinyl siding on the three-story building.
He said crews quickly dealt with with the flames but there was a lot of smoke.
Fire crews were then send in to the building from from the other side to make sure the flames had not spread.
The building was evacuated and many of the residents, mainly seniors, were left standing on the street, waiting for the fire crews to mop up.
Light said he did not believe anyone was hurt as a result of the fire but said there was a medical issue with one person, believed to be a resident, but the thought it was not related to the fire.
The woman who called in the fire, Amanda Meede, lives in the building directly behind Birch Manor. She said she was just leaving for work around 4 p.m. when she walked out of her building and saw the flames shooting up from the underground parkade and up the outside wall t the back of Birch Manor.
Meede, whose said he sister lost her home in a blaze that badly damaged the Bristols apartment building in 琉璃神社 two years ago, immediatley called 911.
"I'm still shaking," she said. "With fire, you just never know."
Janzen said she just had her car checked under warranty and could not think of what would have caused the fire.
"I had just filled it up (with gasoline)," she said, adding she heard two loud explosions and thought that was likely her car.
She said when she saw the smoke after pulling into her parking spot, she tried to open the hood but it was too hot to touch.
When she called a friend for help, there was too much black smoke in the parkade to do anything and by then the dire department was on its way.
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Update: 4:50 p.m. Fire confirmed out by Franklyn Road fire command officer. Patient being attended to on-site. Patient thought not to be connected to the fire.
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Update: Franklyn Command calls for Emergency Services to respond Code 3 to Franklyn Road for one woman "gone down" in front of the building.
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Update: 4:31 p.m. Firefighters continue to monitor the fire in at Birch Manor on 530 Franklyn Road, in Rutland.
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Update: 4:27 p.m. Fire commanders announces main fire "knocked down."
Firefighters called in from Lake Country fire department to assist.
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Update: 4:20 p.m. Firefighters moving in from a parkade as well as through the building.
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琉璃神社 firefighters are on the scene at a two-alarm fire in Rutland. More to come.
