Apartment fire extinguished at downtown Halifax high-rise

Halifax fire crews fought a fire at a high-rise apartment building at 1333 South Park St. on Saturday.

The fire was reported at about 11:30 a.m. and was extinguished before 1 p.m.

There were no reports of injuries.

The fire started in an apartment on the eighth floor, where flames could be seen coming out of the windows at noon.

The unit where the fire originated was destroyed, and the apartment directly above it sustained smoke damage, a fire official said.

Crews from multiple Halifax fire stations responded to the call.

Liz Ingram-Chambers, who owns and operates Le Bistro by Liz on the ground floor of the building, said a staff member called her to report the fire.

All customers and staff had been evacuated and the ovens turned off, she said.

Ingram-Chambers said she waited outside the building with her staff for about an hour while crews extinguished the fire.

Because the fire occurred directly above her restaurant, water from firefighting efforts flooded into the business.

“We’re dealing with a lot of flooding water coming through our ceilings, down the emergency stairwell, [it] flooded our backroom, our back hallway, our storage room, one of our bathrooms,” she said.

She said staff are busy cleaning up and she will assess whether she will be able to open the restaurant later.

Ingram-Chambers estimates she has already lost thousands of dollars in sales.

CBC News has asked for more details about the fire from Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency.

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