Smoking material thought to have caused fire at apartment

Fire crews attended to a blaze at a West Kelowna apartment building Thursday evening.

West Kelowna Fire Rescue (WKFR) responded just after 7 p.m. to a fire on the third story balcony at 2250 Majoros Road, the NEO Apartments.

The first crews on the scene saw sparks and open flame coming from a third floor balcony. The fire was quickly knocked down with a hose stream directed up to the balcony from the parking lot on the ground floor.

Crews then entered the building to attack the fire from the inside, but encountered a locked door to the vacant unit which they had to breach.

On the balcony, crews found and extinguished a large wooden planter box that was still smouldering.

There was no damage to the building itself, aside from some smoke in the third floor hallway that was cleared with fire department fans.

“The fire appears to be accidental, likely caused by improperly discarded smoking material,” said assistant fire chief Brent Watson

There were no injuries and residents were allowed back in the building.