People on Halifax Peninsula told to close windows following structure fire

People living on the Halifax Peninsula are being told to close their windows and shut off their air exchangers following a structure fire in the north end of the city Tuesday morning.

People living on the Halifax Peninsula are being told to close their windows and shut off their air exchangers following a structure fire in the north end of the city Tuesday morning.

Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency and Halifax Regional Police responded to a report of a fire on the corner of Robie and Almon Streets around 8:20 a.m.

Halifax Fire says flames and heavy smoke from burning roofing materials was coming from a high rise building under construction.

“Structure Fire in the area of Robie Street/St Albans, smoke from the fire is possibly toxic. Please close all windows and shut off air exchangers if you live on the Peninsula. Residents from the Windsor St Exchange through to Point Pleasant Park should follow this advice,” read an alert from the city's notification system before 9 a.m.

District chief Pat Kline, with Halifax Fire, said the tenth floor of the building was engulfed in flames when crews arrived.

“Our crews had a little bit of access issues because it’s a building under construction. We had to run water up through our aerial truck. The crews got two hoses on the fire fairly quickly,” said Kline.

“There were a couple of propane explosions, where a couple of propane tanks let go that were used to fuel the tar pot. The fire was knocked down probably 15 or 20 minutes after we got some water on it.”