A two-alarm fire left a Maple Ridge apartment building with wide-spread damage.

Several Maple Ridge families may be homeless this Christmas, after a two-alarm fire Thursday night forced the evacuation of an apartment building on McIntosh Street.

The fire appears to have started in a bedroom on the third floor of the four-storey building and triggered about 30 evacuations.

Two seniors had to be rescued from a balcony and one person was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

The flames broke out in the building in the 22300-block before midnight.

More than 50 firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze. Fire crews remained on scene putting out hot spots until Friday morning, due to persistent flare-ups.

Damage to the building was widespread — mostly from hose water — and residents are being put up in nearby hotels in the interim.

The cause of the fire is still undetermined and the investigation continues.

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