A Kamloops firefighter suffered minor injuries after an early-morning blaze at a derelict building at 91 West Seymour Street.

Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc says the firefighter suffered a twisted knee during the cleanup phase of the operation.

“They tripped,” Uzeloc said. “Nothing too serious.”

Kamloops firefighters were called to the address – located right across the street from the BC Lottery Corporation headquarters – just before 5 a.m., Dec. 15, to reports of smoke.

“I was asleep on the couch sitting up so all of a sudden, I realized what was all the flashing red,” Joan Potter, who lives in the area told Radio NL. “It was two big fire trucks just sitting out in front. I think they had a hose coming up the street as well.”

Uzeloc says they arrived to find the basement of the building – formerly a men’s rooming house known as Weiser House – fully involved. The building was ordered evacuated by Uzeloc last October.

Speaking to Radio NL at 1:45 this afternoon, Uzeloc said the fire was out.

“We have the RCMP on site. Anytime we’re not sure or it may be suspicious we work together on investigation,” Uzeloc said.

“Our crews will be going through there periodically over the next few hours, going and making sure and using a thermal imaging camera to check for any hot spots or any heat that might flare up to make sure the fire is officially out.”

Uzeloc says it is too early to know what the cause of the fire is or how much the damage is pegged at. He also says its not clear if anyone was inside the building at the time of the fire.

“We can’t confirm that there was nobody in the building just because we haven’t been inside it,” Uzeloc said, noting the basement is currently full of water. “There should have been nobody in the building as most of it was boarded up, windows and doors, so there is not supposed to be anybody inside.”

“But we cannot confirm that until we can get through and if we can even get in and do a walkthrough and have a look.”

He says the roughly two dozen firefighters who were on scene were able to stop the flames from spreading to nearby structures.

“Crews did a fantastic job to keep the fire inside the source building, “Uzeloc said. “We had crews around the building on multiple sides making sure the fire stayed in. They forced it to burn up and through the roof so that we could get it vented and put it out because we were not able to go inside.”

Their response led to delays on West St Paul Street and Seymour Street, with traffic seen backing up on the Overlanders Bridge this morning.