KITCHENER - Regan Roberts had just finished grocery shopping with her 11-year-old daughter on Sunday morning when she heard "a huge explosion" in the apartment below hers.

"It rattled the floor," Roberts said. "It sounded like the ceiling was going to collapse."

She heard a fire alarm and saw thick black smoke in the hallway. "I couldn't see anything. It was just this black smoke. It was terrifying."

She yelled to her daughter to get out and meet her in the parking lot, then grabbed their two dogs. She began yelling to alert neighbours to get out, and then made her way through the smoke to the stairs.

Firefighters said no-one was hurt in the fire at the four-storey apartment building at 416 Lancaster St. W. near Union Street.

Kitchener firefighters were called to the blaze just before 11:30 a.m. and were able to evacuate everyone from the building safely, said Platoon Chief Greg Willett. Crews had the fire under control in about 15 minutes, he said.

The fire appears to have been caused accidentally when a tenant didn't properly turn off a torch she was using, and it ignited a bed, Willett said. He estimated damage at about $150,000.

He said the fire was confined to a corner unit on the second storey, but smoke spread throughout the dozen or so units in the building. There was no evidence of an explosion, but that heat building up in a fire can cause windows to blow out, which can resemble an explosion.

Ruth Shanklin had gone out for the morning, and was returning home to let her dog out when she got a call from a neighbour that the building where they live was on fire. "They're not letting me go in yet. I'm just so upset. just want to go in and make sure she's OK. She's my baby," Shanklin said of her eight-year-old dog Roxie. Firefighters later reunited her with her pet.

Several residents took refuge in a bus at the scene provided by Grand River Transit. "I'm worried about my stuff," said Aziz Hamab, who hoped he would be able to get back in his apartment as soon as possible. All residents were able to go back in their units on Sunday, except for the apartment where the fire started and the one directly above it.

A section of Lancaster between Union and the expressway was closed for about two hours so that firefighters could work on the scene. Grand River Transit provided a bus where residents could stay warm until they were able to go back into their units.

cthompson@therecord.com

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