Residents allowed to return home after fire in Beltline highrise

A fire in a Calgary high-rise shut down part of 13 Avenue S.W. Friday afternoon. Alesia Fieldberg reports

Calgary’s fire department says several residents displaced from a blaze at a highrise building in the Beltline neighbourhood Friday afternoon can now return to their units.

Fire crews were called to the scene of a fire in the 1000 block of 13 Ave S.W. for a fire in a residential building at around 4:20 p.m.

Crews arrived on scene to visible flames on top of the building and heavy black smoke.

The fire department says it began evacuating residents and conducted an “internal fire attack” on the flames in the ceiling area of the top floor apartment.

Fire officials say the fire came from a penthouse unit, which are two floors high, and are investigating whether it may have started in the ceiling or on the roof.

There are 75 units in the building and fire crews say the building was evacuated except for some units where people with mobility issues sheltered in place.

The fire department says all residents, except those living in two top floor units, have been allowed to re-occupy the building on Friday evening after the fire was put out.

One person was taken to hospital with minor injuries they got when leaving the building, and a firefighter is being checked for minor injuries due to hauling equipment.

The fire department said no other injuries were reported.

All four directions of 9 Street and 13 Avenue S.W. were closed.

The investigation into the blaze is ongoing.

With files from CTV News’ Alesia Fieldberg