Fire at 108 Allard Street sees residents evacuated

7:25 p.m. update:

Residents of 108 Allard St. will soon be back in their apartments, says Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services Platoon Chief Stan Martynuck.

Fire services did what's called a 'shelter in place' on a city bus after a resident on the third floor of the building called in an intermittent fire alarm sounding in the hallway of the building at 4:36 p.m, Thursday.

Martynuck said that, when fire crews arrived to investigate, they found heavy smoke and open flames in one of the units on the third floor.

When fire crews opened the door to fight the fire, smoke poured out into the hallway of the third floor and up into the hallway and some units on the fourth floor above.

Firefighters contained the fire to the unit and knocked them down fast. 

Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services Platoon Chief Stan Martynuck tells SooToday fire crews are monitoring smoke and carbon monoxide levels to determine when it will be safe for all residents to return to the building.

"The first and second floor residents are probably already back in their homes," he said. "The third and fourth floor residents should be able to return later this evening."

Martynuck also tells SooToday that no one was home in the unit the fire was contained to and that no one was injured in the fire.

The cause and origin of the fire is still under investigation.

Original story: 6:39 p.m.

There appears to have been a fire in the kitchen of a third floor unit in the apartment building at 108 Allard St. late this afternoon.

Sault Ste. Marie Fire and Police Services, as well as Emergency Medical Services have responded and a city bus is on scene to shelter evacuated residents.

We will have more on this developing story as information becomes available later this evening.