A fire at a downtown St. John's apartment building on Thursday afternoon has left 16 people temporarily homeless and prompted a neighbourhood power shutdown that affected thousands of Newfoundland Power customers.
Incident and response
St. John's Regional Fire Department responded after a call came in shortly after 1:10 p.m. NT. Crews arrived to find smoke issuing from a four-storey building on Cochrane Street and identified the source as an apartment on the top floor.
"Smoke could be seen coming from out of the four-storey building,"
Acting platoon chief Jerry O'Neill said firefighters were able to knock down the blaze. There were no reported injuries.
Damage, displacement and supports
Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation (NLHC) confirmed the property is one of its units. The top-floor apartment sustained significant fire damage and the unit — along with much of the rest of the building — suffered extensive smoke and water damage.
- People displaced: 16 residents placed into hotel accommodation by NLHC.
- Injuries: none reported.
- Building: four-storey apartment owned by NLHC; turned over to investigators.
Fire officials said they could not yet say how long residents will be unable to return to their homes.
Wider effects and investigation
To assist firefighting operations, power was temporarily shut off in the area. St. John's Regional Fire Department estimated that about 5,000 Newfoundland Power customers were affected by the outage while crews worked on scene.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Time call received | About 1:10 p.m. NT |
| Building | Four-storey NLHC apartment on Cochrane Street |
| Displaced | 16 people housed in hotels |
| Customers impacted by outage | Estimated 5,000 |
The scene was turned over to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, which will conduct an investigation into the cause of the fire.
For residents in the downtown area this incident underscores vulnerabilities for tenants and neighbouring households when emergencies strike: displacement, service interruptions and the uncertainty of repair timelines. NLHC and emergency services are the points of contact for those impacted as the investigation and recovery proceed.
InfoRadar will continue to follow developments and report any updates on the investigation and on supports for displaced residents.
