**Update as of 5 p.m. on Jan. 31: One man has succumbed to his injuries following the fire. Read the full story.**
Two people were sent to hospital after a fire broke out in a 15-storey high rise in Vancouver's West End on Monday (Jan. 31) morning.
Vancouver Fire and Rescue responded to reports of the blaze on the fourth floor of a building at 1255 Pendrell St. at 6 a.m. Crews arrived at the scene within a couple of minutes, Asst. Chief Ken Gemmill told Vancouver Is Awesome in a phone interview.
The department classified the blaze as a "second alarm" fire almost immediately, which means that 40 firefighters were on scene within five minutes.
While the cause of the fire is under investigation, most of the tenants will be permitted to go back in the building with the exception of some tenants on the fourth floor, Gemmill said.
"We were able to conduct a primary search and conduct a fire attack fairly quickly from the exterior to knock down the flames," he explained, adding that the majority of the damage was contained to the suite where the blaze broke out.
Gemmill noted that the building's fire alarm system worked, which prompted everyone to evacuate. However, there were no sprinklers in the building and they could have prevented some of the damage.
A tenant shared a video of the flames engulfing the suite on the fourth floor.
Fire Chief Karen Fry also took to Twitter while crews were at the scene to advise drivers to avoid the area.
