Columbia Street traffic diverted as Kamloops Fire Rescue investigates downtown smoke report

KAMLOOPS — Traffic was momentarily snarled in front of Royal Inland Hospital along Columbia Street Wednesday morning (May 7), as Kamloops Fire Rescue crews were called out to a report of smoke at a strip mall.

The report came in around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning for light smoke, and a burning smell in the Columbia Medical Plaza, on the corner of Third Avenue and Columbia Street.

Deputy Chief Ryan Cail was on scene and spoke with CFJC as fire crews were wrapping up.

“What they did smell in the building was the smell of a burning rubber belt or an electrical type smell. No visible smoke or flame that was present which just put the crews into defensive, investigative mode to try and determine what was the cause of the smell and the smoke.”

A tower truck was brought in for firefighters to get on the roof to investigate. Shortly after, people who had been evacuated from the building were allowed back inside, as no flames were found, and no injuries were reported.

Cail says the incident taking place right along a busy roadway made for a busy scene to navigate.

“Thank goodness RCMP showed up to help us with traffic. We don’t want to disrupt everybody’s day. At the same time we do have to get our apparatus in and staged in the appropriate, safe spots for operations, but yeah the last thing we want is to disturb everybody’s commute throughout the day.”