moose jaw fire

Firefighters battling the blaze this morning 

A terrible start to the week in downtown Moose Jaw as a building that is said to be 100 years old has gone up in smoke.

Firefighters were called to the brick building, just south of the corner of 1st and High Street west, around 6:24 Monday morning. Fire Chief Garth Palmer explains his crews got right to work. "We responded from both stations. It was reported as a fire outside of the building. They extinguished the fire at the rear of the building and very quickly found out that that fire had spread from the inside and so they started to evacuate the building."

Chief Palmer says there were 10 people inside the building and they were all evacuated safely, although one person did have to be treated by Moose Jaw and District EMS for undisclosed injuries. The Red Cross and the Salvation Army are helping the residents who have been displaced by the fire.

Crews on scene have told us the roof has collapsed and the building has suffered extensive damage. As Chief Palmer mentioned, the original report was that the fire started on the fire escape but that is no longer believed to be the case. So, the investigation into a cause continues.

The fire has impacted some business in downtown Moose Jaw. The north west wind has been blowing the smoke across the area and Shawn Bourassa had to shut down his National Cafe. He and a number of his regular customers were watching the fire from an alley.

"Everybody was out watching the fire anyways, so there won't be much action in the old place today. Everybody is pretty curious as to what's going on here."

Firefighters are still on the scene and at last word were watching for hot spots and flare ups. Stay tuned for the latest.

Click here to see pictures from the scene.