A fire in an eighth floor room forced the partial evacuation Thursday of a student residence building at Georgian College in Barrie.
No one was injured but the eight floor was filled with black smoke from the two-alarm blaze.
"The one apartment is destroyed," said Deputy Fire Chief Cory Mainprize. "There was no one in the apartment at the time the fire started. We're still trying to put it all together but apparently they had left shortly prior to the fire starting."
The seventh and eighth floors were evacuated at 101 Georgian Drive when the blaze broke out around 10 a.m.
Mainprize says the units don't have kitchens, just a common area and rooms.
The building has an automatic detection system that alerted tenants.
"The alarm went off. I saw the head of the dorm supervisors come running down the hallway scream 'It's a fire. It's real,'" said student Rebecca White who lives on the eighth floor.
"It's terrifying. All of our stuff is in there. Everything I own is in that room."
Students say the hallway was filled with smoke as they made their escape.
Shivering outside in the drizzle and wind, they said they're supposed to be going home for Easter weekend and now couldn't get to their rooms.
Firefighters had searched every apartment on the eight floor and prompted a few stragglers to leave.
Some students initially thought the alarm was a joke.
"We always have fire alarms to so one took it seriously," said student Leah Monden. "We've had so many false alarms."
"This time it was real and it was scary," added White.
Barrie Fire is investigating to determine the origin and cause of the blaze.
Fire Prevention Officers are looking at the possibility of a laptop or phone left charging on or near bedding as a possible cause.
Mainprize says firefighters use the building for high-rise training.
"Where the fire was located today was directly adjacent to where we'd done our last training evolution," said Mainprize. "So the crews are very familiar with this building. and that certainly contributed to the quick fire suppression and response."
The Deputy Chief said the modern building is equipped with a great fire protection system.
"The eight floor is off limits today," he said.
