The fire is determined to be accidental in nature due to unattended cooking.
It originated in an apartment on the main floor. By the time fire fighters made entry into the apartment, flames had already spread to the second floor and the roof assembly.
On Friday night, the Dauphin Fire Department responded to a blaze at the Queen Apartments on Main Street South in Dauphin. Fire fighters worked through the night and requested that the Gilbert Plains Fire Department assist with swapping out fire fighters so that the original responders could eat and hydrate at 10:00 p.m.
The City of Dauphin responded with heavy equipment at 5:00 a.m. to gain access through an exterior wall as the building was not safe for the fire fighters to enter due to the roof collapse.
Crews cleared the scene by 8:30 a.m. after more than a dozen hours on the scene. All the occupants of the apartment escaped the building safely. One was transported to the hospital as a precaution for smoke inhalation. Two pets were rescued by fire fighters and returned to their owners.
In a release, the Dauphin Fire Department thanked the public.
"We would like to thank all the members of the public for their kindness throughout the night for dropping off coffee and snacks," it read. "Our thoughts go out to the tenants who have been displaced by the fire. We have provided them with contacts for the Canadian Red Cross, and are grateful they were able to get out safely."
There were no injuries and no estimate on the damages at this time.
