It appears some residents of a mixed hotel-apartment building in downtown Kamloops will be displaced for the night, after a fire earlier this evening.

Kamloops Fire Rescue were called to a blaze at about 8:15 p.m. at the Sandman Suites, at Columbia Street and Sixth Avenue, which started in the northwest corner of the building. According to witness reports the blaze was out within an hour.

The building is a mix of hotel rooms and apartments for rent.

“The building was evacuated when we got there. Alarms had been going,” said Kamloops Fire Captain Troy Grant. “Some people were slow to leave their residence and were hiding in the building for some reason. Some doors were kicked and people were escorted outside.”

Emergency services were transporting occupants to a different dwelling for the night.

A cause of the fire is currently not known.

– with files from Jeff Andreas