Cat rescued from Main Street fire(UPDATED)

Alisha Brown holds her pet cat Tommy, who was rescued from Brown's apartment following a fire there toight. Photo by Phil Novak, BayToday.ca.

North Bay fire fighters are on the scene cleaning up from a fire earlier this evening at a building on Main Stree E across from the Capitol Centre.

The fire started around 7:30 p.m., although there were no flames visible from the outside.

Fire fighters had the flames inside the building knocked down by about 9:30 p.m.

There don't appear to be any injuries, and a cat belonging to Alisha Brown, a tenant in the building, was rescued.

Brown was at her parents' house doing laundry when the fire broke out, her father said.

"He smells smokey but that aside he's fine," a tearful and relieved Brown said as she cuddled Tommy in her arms.

The fire originated in the basement of the building and was quite intense when the intitial 18 fire fighters arrived, BayToday.ca correspondend Hendrik Pape reports.

"To make matters worse a copper waterline which fed the sprinkler system inside the building broke adding an extra hazard since the basement also housed all of the electrical systems for the building," Pape said, after speaking to platoon chief Dick Woodward.

"The heat in the basement was so intense the city was called in to dig a hole in the sidewalk outside the building to vent the heat out."

Pape reports the fire had begun to spread into the walls to the remainder of the building so fire fighters on all three floors fought to stay ahead of it.

The fire did breach the wall on the second floor coming up through the floor, forcing fire fighters to cut a trench to gain the upper hand.

Damage was unknown but Woodward told Pape there was structural damage to the building as well as severe water and smoke damage.

The fabric store on the main floor had very expensive equipment inside and although fire fighters covered what they could, some was damaged.

Woodward said that the actions of the fire fighters and the quick response of the police and city staff all contributed to a "great save".

With files from Hendrik Pape, Special to BayToday.ca