A fire in East Village destroyed a warehouse and evacuated a hotel

An early morning fire at an abandoned warehouse on Seventh Avenue SE sent a huge plume of smoke engulfing the nearby Hilton Hotel in Calgary's East Village.

First responders were called to the scene just after 3:15 a.m.

Although 14 appliances were on the scene, the fire took a long time.

“When crews arrived, they were able to get in and attempt to make an interior attack, but conditions quickly changed and made it very difficult,” said Carol Henke, public information officer for the Calgary Fire Department.

Smoke from the fire set off the hotel's alarm, forcing guests to evacuate around 3:30 a.m.

“My wife and I were fast asleep and all of a sudden we heard the smoke alarm go off,” Aaron Getchell, one of the hotel guests, told CTV News on Wednesday.

Getchell said he thought it was a test at first, but when he got to the stairs, he realized something was wrong.

“We entered the emergency stairwell to go down the stairs and immediately smelled smoke. The smoke thickened around the fourth floor.

“We just got in the car and went back to bed. I slept there for about an hour.”

Sarvesh, another guest of the hotel, said the situation was disorienting.

“We didn't know where the smoke was coming from. “But we're thankful the fire alarm went off.”

No injuries were reported by EMS CTV News.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, and the investigation may take a long time.

Because access to the building is limited.

“It's an old brick job that's not structurally sound,” Henke said.

“This could be a near-fall situation. If anyone has information that can help, I'd be willing to see it and share it with our investigators.”

CT trains were temporarily affected while emergency crews responded. The service has since been restored.

“The close proximity of transit lines caused CTrain service to be disrupted even as the building was monitored for stability, and further impacted when the CTrain line was de-energized to make the building safe,” the fire department said. statement on Wednesday night.

“However, we avoided closing transit entirely until the majority of rush hour traffic had dissipated. Transit continued to operate shuttles to provide service.

“We understand the impact on passengers and we thank Transit customers for their patience as they worked to keep everyone safe. Transit operations are back to normal.”

According to the fire department, the building was safely secured and handed over to the owners.