A fire at Scotiabank Arena Saturday evening prompted fans to be evacuated from the building and the game between the Toronto Raptors and the Indiana Pacers to be delayed.
A Toronto Fire spokesperson said they got the call for a fire at the arena around 7:45 p.m. When crews arrived, they found flames and smoke coming from one of the overhead speakers.
"The concern, of course, (the fire) was over top of fans. And so by order of (Toronto Fire) that area was evacuated, and then fire (officials) determined that we needed to get everyone out. And so, the building was evacuated," said Toronto police Duty Insp. Brad Donais.
Fans were ordered to leave the building with 4:05 left in the second quarter and the Raptors leading 66-38.
While the fire wasn't huge, Donais said it was tricky for firefighters to get to and knock it down.
"And so (Toronto) Fire had to use some special technical skills to get at it. And obviously, we didn't want to do that over top of people," he said.
"The fans were great. They understood it was an emergency. It was orderly. It could have turned into something really bad. But between the fans, our officers kind of keeping things straight and working with fire, it really went well as can be expected for having a fire in a big building."
No injuries were reported.
Around 9:30 p.m., the Raptors tweeted that Scotiabank Arena had been given an all-clear by officials, and the game resumed without fans in the building.
The team said tickets will be refunded to fans within 30 days.
"We apologize to all of our fans who made it out to the game tonight and we thank our fans for their continued support," the Raptors tweeted.
Players later returned to court and did a 10-minute warmup before finishing the first half. Halftime was cut to seven-and-a-half minutes. The Raptors went on to beat the Pacers 131-91.
"The necessary venue repairs will be executed in time to allow the Toronto Maple Leafs game to proceed as scheduled on Sunday at 7 p.m. against the Florida Panthers," Raptors' owner Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment said in a statement.
Liana Schepanow said she noticed that something was going on partway through the second quarter.
"We were sitting by the opposite basket. So we could actually start seeing sections clearing, and we were wondering what was going on. But they calmly asked everybody to leave the building," Schepanow said. "It was very organized, very well mannered."
Saturday's Raptors game was Lorrie Mitchell's first. She said she did not see flames but noticed smoke coming from the speakers.
When it was announced that the arena was being evacuated, Mitchell said fans initially booed, but they eventually followed directions to exit the building.
"They did a great job. It was all calm," Mitchell said. "All the fans did a great job clearing out calmly and safely. So kudos to Toronto Fire."
Parmida Ronaghi, who has been to a few Raptors games, said this has never happened before.
"It was a new experience," Ronaghi said. "We saw like a section clearing out and saw firefighters come in, and it was really interesting. Everyone was wondering what was happening, and then the speakers kind of cut out and then we realized that we had to evacuate because there was a small fire."
"It wasn't that scary because everyone was being really calm," she added.
- with files from The Canadian Press
