Moose Jaw Firefighters have left the scene of the fire at the Empire Apartments building which started early this morning.
Firefighters were called to the building, located at the corner of Caribou Street and 4th Ave NW, shortly after 4 am.
Deputy Fire Chief Mike Russell provided an update just before 4 pm.
"We're all done now. We've got all our trucks down. We pretty much went through the investigation process with the province. It's being deemed accidental at this time, not suspicious. We've cordoned off the building, taped off the building. City crews are going to be diligently working to break up the ice and get the road back open."
He says all of the tenants in the building have been accounted for.
"We have been confirmed that all tenants are out, so that's a good sign. Everybody's accounted for. We weren't 100 per cent sure on that...To my knowledge, none were injured. All the displaced individuals were taken to a local hotel and then Red Cross has taken over from there."
Three firefighters suffered minor injuries and were treated on scene, while another was transported to hospital with superficial burns and released.
He notes the apartment building is destroyed and will have to come down. There was also exposure damage to the house next door.
During the height of the fire call, 24 firefighters were on scene along with five pieces of equipment plus three auxiliary pieces of equipment. Trucks were rotated in and out due to the cold temperatures, which caused issues with valves and hoses freezing up. The main pumper is currently being thawed out.
Several agencies responded to the fire this morning including Medavie, Moose Jaw Police, and city crews which were busy grading the ice and water off the street. The city also provided a transit bus to keep the firefighters warm.
Russell says it was a long day for everyone involved.
"We were on scene for 11 hours at this one, in this cold weather and then the crews still have to go back to the station and work on the trucks and repack trucks. It's been a long day for everybody."
Photos below were submitted by Lee Smith and Wendell Gillert