Calgary condo building evacuated after cigarette in planter sparks fire

The Calgary Fire Department says a cigarette put out in a balcony planter is believed to be what caused a fire in Royal Oak on Wednesday that prompted the evacuation of the entire condo building.

Fire crews were called to the condo complex on Royal Oak Plaza at 7:50 a.m. for reports of a fire on the fourth floor.

"The good news is that external balcony sprinklers really did a good job at containing this fire and limiting the spread," said Carol Henke, public information officer with the Calgary Fire Department.

"Unfortunately, the fire was strong enough and big enough that it did go into the soffit."

The fire department says the person living in the condo had tried to extinguish the fire but it was too large.

She managed to escape without getting burned.

The entire building, more than 120 units, had to be evacuated, but officials say one resident slept through the whole thing.

"He was wearing noise cancelling headphones and did not hear the fire alarm," explained a Wednesday news release.

"This is an important reminder that if people choose to use devices that significantly diminish their senses, it can put them at significant risk of missing life-saving signals that there is an emergency and that they need to evacuate the building immediately."

Henke says there was a large response from the fire department because the blaze was at a multi-family residential building.

"Due to the size of the building, the amount of people that live here, it really warrants a large response.

"We know that fire doubles in size every 30 seconds, it grows very quickly, so we would rather have a large response and then we can return crews to their station if they're not needed."

A fire investigator determined the fire was unintentional and caused as a result of a cigarette being put in a planter pot.

Henke says the fire caused damage to the suite where it originated and the balcony. She said there's also smoke and water damage to the building. 

A fire broke out on the balcony of a Royal Oak multi-family residential building on Wednesday, June 6, 2024. No injuries were reported.

Henke is asking for anyone with or videos of the fire, especially before crews arrived on scene, to email them to [e-mail].