Christmas Day fire causes heavy damage to building in Saint John, N.B.

A fire caused a power outage for around 900 residents of Saint John, N.B., Wednesday afternoon.

Crews with the Saint John Fire Department spent much of Christmas Day battling an uptown fire which caused power outages for hundreds of residents.

Crews were called to the 100-block of Union Street shortly after noon in response to reports of a structure fire. Upon arrival, Platoon Chief Craig Melvin says crews were met with heavy smoke and flame coming from the second and third floors of the three-storey building which is attached to the Max Pub.

Every truck in the city was at the scene of the fire at one point or another throughout the day and some crews worked overtime fight the fire, said Melvin.

Firefighters fought the fire for several hours from inside the building, but Melvin said crews were eventually pulled out due to safety concerns. Attacks on the fire continued from outside to keep the fire from spreading to other buildings.

The fire caused to a power outage just before 2:30 p.m. that affected approximately 900 customers in uptown Saint John Wednesday afternoon for around two hours. The utility company completely restored power to the area by just after 8 p.m.

Crews were still on scene 24 hours later battling hotspots. Early in the afternoon, an emergency demolition permit was issued for the building following an engineer report on its integrity. There is no timeline for when the structure will be torn down.

No civilians were hurt as a result of the fire, but some firefighters received minor injuries while battling the blaze. The cause of the fire is under investigation.