At least 100 people are without a home this morning after a fire destroyed a four-storey apartment building in Coquitlam, B.C.

The fire broke out around 4 p.m. Monday at 2915 Glen Dr. near Pacific Street.

No one was injured, but residents who were put up at a nearby reception centre are still not being allowed access to the badly damaged building. Many of them returned to the scene of the fire today to have a look.

Despite the disruption to their lives, one resident cried tears of happiness today.

Helpful firefighters went back inside the building to look for a pet cockatiel the man feared would not survive. They found the bird's cage knocked over and the bird flying around the room.

Paul, who declined to give his last name, says he was only a week away from moving. He said he had been "sick with worry" when he was returning home from work and couldn't get into his suite to check on his pet, 'Moxie' because of the fire.

When, Moxie was reunited with him, Paul, broke down in tears.

Residents still haven't been able to access what is left of their belongings after a fire tore through a four-storey apartment building in Coquitlam, B.C. (Farrah Merali/CBC)

Coquitlam fire chief Wade Pierlot said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

"There will be a lot of interviewing that will go on behind the scenes — the residents of the building, what they saw, look at all kinds of video footage, things like that — and we'll start to determine what we think the cause was," he told The Early Edition.

Pierlot said the building didn't have sprinklers, nor were they required when it was built sometime in the 1980s.

He said there is extensive damage to the third and fourth floors and water damage on the first and second floors, and it could be months before residents are able to move back in.

City official Kathleen Vincent said residents will have to wait a while longer before they get access.

"Our fire crews will remain on scene and complete their investigation. After they've completed their work, they release the building to a restoration company and then it would be that restoration company that provides access to the building once it's safe to do so," Vincent told CBC News.