Several injured, including firefighter, in St. John's condo garage fire

At least 4 people have been injured, including a firefighter, and 25 displaced after a garage fire at a downtown condominium in St. John's.

Fire crews and Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers were on the scene before 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning after reports of smoke and loud booming sounds coming from the Cavendish Condominium building on Duckworth Street.

St. John's Regional Fire Department platoon chief Mike Hall says on arrival they found 6 to 8 cars on fire inside the garage, and black smoke filling the entire building. 

"When you're in the fire service, you know, you always talk about the worst case scenario. Well, this was it," said Hall.

Crews used the ladder truck and a rotary saw to rescue several seniors from their condos on the third and fourth floors of the building.

"We had to cut the railing away because you can't lift these seniors up over, you know, a 3½ foot rail," he said.

Hall says fire crews rescued four people from upper floors with the ladder truck, and found one woman unconscious on the ground floor. 

She and several others are in hospital now with smoke inhalation.

During the rescue, crews received a mayday signal which Hall says is worst case scenario. 

"[It] means one of our own is down," he said. "When the call comes out on the radio system, 'mayday, mayday, mayday' it means everything stops and we got to go find the individual."

In this case, a firefighter had fallen through a set of stairs, injuring himself on the way down and landing on his back. 

He too has been sent to hospital. 

"I'm almost 32 years in the fire service. This is the first time we've had a mayday," said Hall.

The building has yet to be cleared for police to investigate the cause of the fire. But Hall estimates that residents won't be able to return for months.

Still, he says he's never been more proud of the quick work of the team in getting everyone out.

"This could have been a major catastrophe, but the individuals involved, like the use of the ladder truck and all the interior search crews, did exactly what they're trained to do," said Hall, adding that it was a very proud moment for him as the incident commander. 

"At this point, we haven't got any fatalities to report. This could have been something that could have been very, very catastrophic."

RNC continue investigation

Late Sunday afternoon, Platoon Chief Ed Sears told CBC that fire crews worked on cleaning up during the day, removing several vehicles from the parking garage that were destroyed in the fire. 

Sears said they had to remove around 8 cars from the lower parking garage area. Other cars on the second story weren't removed but did sustain smoke and fire damage. 

"We only removed the ones in the exact fire area that we were afraid might cause potential trouble if they weren't removed," said Sears. 

Fire crews also determined that the building sustained smoke damage throughout. 

Sears says some building residents and their family members are being placed elsewhere by the Red Cross. 

Now the building is in the hands of the RNC fire investigation division who are investigating the cause of the fire. Sears says it looks like it started in the parking garage but they're still uncertain at this time.

When fire crews wrapped up operations around 2:00 p.m., Sears says no one was yet allowed back in the building. 

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