Skopje, 2 October 2024 (MIA) -- Several people, including a firefighter and a police officer, were treated in hospital for inhaling hot smoke in a Chair residential building fire on Wednesday morning, the Interior Ministry said. 

They were taken to the Mother Teresa Hospital Complex around 6:30 am. By then, several residents had been evacuated from the apartment building. They suffered no burns, according to the official report.

"On Oct. 2, 2024, at 1:55 am, the Skopje Police Department received a call that a fire broke out in a basement of a residential building on Serava Street in Skopje. A Skopje Fire Department team and Skopje Police Department police officers were sent to the scene," the report said.

Previously, the Crisis Management Center said twenty firefighters with seven fire trucks had been battling the fire since 1:50 am.

The CMC said residents had been evacuated from the building. It also housed a warehouse and several businesses, which also caught on fire. mr/