[UPDATED] Crews battling large apartment fire in North Vancouver

UPDATE 9:45 am: North Vancouver Fire Chief Dan Pistilli tells Daily Hive that the fire is mostly out, save for a few hotspots in the roof area. Two people were sent to hospital for smoke inhalation, but there are no other injuries to report. The cause of the fire is still unknown.

Crews are on scene battling an apartment fire in the Lonsdale area of North Vancouver.

The fire started early Monday morning at a low-rise building at East 2nd Street and St. Patricks Avenue. North Vancouver Fire Chief Dan Pistilli tells Daily Hive they’re “in the thick” of battling the blaze right now.

Our @NVCFD is at the scene of an early morning apt fire on East 2nd and St. Patrick. #NorthVan pic.twitter.com/DyQadwTj5z

— City of North Van (@CityOfNorthVan) July 18, 2016

Multi-alarm fire 300 block East 2nd @CityOfNorthVan @lower_lonsdale Hope everyones OK @NorthShoreNews @GlobalBC pic.twitter.com/CVY7GElnM4

— Chris Mizzoni (@NitzysHockeyDen) July 18, 2016

Large apartment fire in North Van District. pic.twitter.com/MFp3vTjXPm

— Vancity Stringer (@stucktweet) July 18, 2016

BC Hydro says the power is out north of Alder Street and south of St. Patricks Avenue as a result of the fire. Crews are currently on site, but there’s no estimation of how long it will take to get power back on to the area. There are 131 customers affected by the outage.

It’s unknown if there are any injuries.

The fire is visible from downtown and has left a haze of smoke over the North Shore.

Lower Lonsdale apartment fire visible from @VancityBuzz offices pic.twitter.com/Wr3tcO887T

— Lauren Sundstrom (@LaurenS_Buzz) July 18, 2016

More to come…