Residents in the area of Church Street and West End Industrial Park in Pasadena were forced to evacuate their homes on Monday morning after a commercial building caught fire.
In a statement released by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at the time, the evacuation was due to “toxic smoke being released” from the building. Members of the public were also asked to stay away from the area for their own safety.
According to fire chief Darren Gardner, members of the Pasadena Fire Department received the call about 7:55 a.m. and were on the scene “five or six minutes after that.” The fire department gave the all clear that the fire was extinguished at about 4 p.m.
The building, which is on Church Street, was used primarily for the storage of automobiles and travel trailers. The RCMP had an officer on fire watch Monday night until investigators were to arrive this morning.
The RCMP sent out notice at about 6 p.m. that those evacuated could return to their homes.
Gardner said toxic smoke is typical of anyone fire this size.
“Given the nature of what (the building) was used for, and that we weren’t exactly sure what was stored in it, it was the right call at the time,” he said.
The Corner Brook Fire Department also lent a hand in the form of its aerial ladder truck. Deputy Fire Chief Craig Harnum happened to be in the area and offered the use of the equipment if the Pasadena department needed it.
“We thought it was a good chance to cut down on some time there in terms of being able to access parts of the building that would take us much longer sending in guys to get at,” Gardner said.
Nobody was in the building when the fire took place and there were no injuries.
The cause was undetermined as of press time, but an investigation was expected to begin today.
