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For some residents, it started with an acrid smell that caused a burning feeling in their throats. For others, it started with the sounding of the fire alarm. Early Sunday morning, residents of the apartment building on Elliott Road in West Kelowna were ushered out with their homes declared unsafe.
An exhaustive investigation by the West Kelowna Fire department failed to identify the source or nature of the odour, and until it's pinpointed residents are finding somewhere else to stay.
"The reports that we got from the residents that we were met by when we arrived were enough for us to determine that we needed to take action," said West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund, "and have people leave the building."
"The alarm went off at 3 am," said resident Sean Hill. "Girlfriend and I jumped out of bed, grabbed our dog and got out."
Like the rest of the 150 residents, he remains out today. He didn't smell anything in his first-floor unit, the problem was apparently more acute in the upper floors.
"From what I heard, it was less of a smell and more like an irritant, like peoples throats closing up, hard to breathe, coughing," he explained.
"These are all things we took very seriously," said Chief Brolund. But door-to-door investigation turned up nothing.
"Our guys were just hoping the next door they opened, as much as we didn't want to find anything, that we could at least find something and maybe deal with it, but that wasn't the case which just kind of adds to this mystery."
While on evacuation order the residents have up to three days of accommodation provided to them.
The building owner has hired a private contractor to trace the source of the problem.
"We eagerly await that report," said Brolund. "And we'll use that to help us determine when people can go home."
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