No one was hurt in the fire, which forced several people from their homes

No one was hurt after a three-alarm fire broke out in a West End apartment building on Sunday afternoon

Vancouver firefighters are being credited for their quick work in putting out a dramatic fire in the West End on Sunday

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — It was a dramatic scene in the West End of Vancouver as thick black smoke took over the skyline during an apartment fire on Sunday afternoon.

The fire has now been extinguished, and no one was hurt when the 15th floor of the high-rise on Beach Avenue and Bute Street was engulfed in flames.

The Vancouver Fire Department upgraded the fire to a three-alarm.

Witnesses posted dramatic videos and photos of the fire to social media, with the smoke being seen as far away as West Vancouver and other parts of the North Shore.

With no one seriously hurt in the blaze, Vancouver firefighters are being credited for their quick work in putting out the fire.

“It was quite amazing, and I did speak to my boss and he said he was looking at it on social media and he says it looked very impressive,” Acting Assistant Chief Kane Morishita explains. “It was a great, a great job by fire crews to have this thing knocked down because it could have easily spread.”

It’s unclear how many people were in the building at the time.

Morishita says crews did an amazing job, especially considering how high up the fire was and the fact crews didn’t use any ladders.

“We had no access in the immediate stages of the fire to use elevators, so crews basically have to walk up stairwells and connect to… pipes,” he explains. “They had no ladders erected, it was just basically an interior attack.”

At least 10 units damaged

It took =50 firefighters about 20 minutes to get the fire under control, Morishita explains.

“Fire was knocked down and basically contained to the 15th floor,” he says. “There is water and smoke damage to a few floors in this high rise. No injuries at this time, and we notified emergency social services which are dealing with the tenants that are going to be displaced.”

One resident, Leslie, who lives on the 10th floor says the fire was out by the time she got home. Fortunately for her, she’s not one of the many who won’t be able to return home.

She says she got a text that her building was on fire before she rushed home. By the time she had arrived, she says firefighters had already knocked the flames down.

“We walked out the front of the building and just looked up and saw three black balconies, and it was kind of scary. You come in and you’re like, ‘am I going to get to go home tonight?'” she recalled.

Leslie says while her apartment isn’t physically damaged, there’s still evidence of the large fire that was sparked just five floors above her.

“You can smell smoke inside the building, definitely in the hallways and in the elevators,” she says. “I’m very lucky. When I was younger we had a fire in our house, so it’s definitely scary and brings back those kind of memories and you’re just thankful that it didn’t happen to you.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

– With files from Alissa Thibault