Maitland Street fire destroys building under construction in Halifax

A fire has destroyed a building under construction on Maitland Street in Halifax and investigators say it's too early to say whether the blaze was suspicious.

Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency were called to the three-storey structure at around 2:40 a.m. on Monday.

"It's pretty substantial. The three-storey building was fully involved which means fire on every floor and then the roof area. And where it was under construction, it didn't take long for it to collapse," said Brad Connors, acting division commander with Halifax fire.

Maitland St. fire by Brent Wagner

8 years ago

Duration 0:23

Brent Wagner captured this shot early Monday morning of a Maitland Street fire

Two nearby buildings had to be temporarily evacuated. Both were damaged by the fire. 

One person is currently out of their home because of fire damage.

No one was injured.

Fire officials said Monday afternoon that the cause is under investigation and it's believed the fire broke out on the building's ground floor.

'I woke up to this noise'

Mike Gogan was asleep when the fire broke out. 

"I woke up to this noise that sounded like a wind tunnel around the unit. There was this bright orange outlining the window like the sun was coming up," he said.

"I looked at the clock, it was 2 a.m. so it didn't make sense. So I got to the window and opened the blinds and I saw the flames there."

Gogan said the next thing he heard was a police officer banging on doors, telling residents to evacuate the building.

About 30 to 40 people were gathered on the street at one point, he said.

"The firefighters were here very fast and they had the situation under control. They were great with the people around."