Many residents are being allowed to return home to a highrise in Brampton after a water leak that sparked an electrical fire caused a partial evacuation Thursday morning.

The fire broke out on the 11th floor of a building, located in the area of Kennedy Road South and Glidden Road, at around 3:30 a.m.

Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke throughout the building.

“We had a water leak earlier in the evening so I’m not sure if those two are tied in but right now initial thoughts are that they could be,” Brampton Platoon Chief Gordon Fowler told CP24 from the scene.

The leak started on the 12th floor of the building shortly before the fire was reported on the 11th floor. At this point, investigators believe the fire started in an electrical panel.

Video from residents show water leaking from the top of an elevator and flooding the hallway.

“People on the floor were yelling something about the electrical,” one resident said. “I looked out in the hallway and could see smoke down the hallway. I realized, ‘OK, this is not just a fire alarm going off in the hallway.’”

Another resident said he heard the sound of an electrical vault arcing and started “pounding on doors.”

“There was a flood here earlier, so I decided to not go to bed because of it,” he said. “I have been through something like this before.”

The fire was knocked down quickly, officials said, and air quality tests were conducted.

Firefighters ventilated the building to clear the smoke but said the water damage poses a larger issue, and may determine when residents are allowed to return.

Transit buses were brought in to transport some tenants to a local recreation centre, which will operate as a warming shelter until they can return to the building.

Fowler noted that communication with residents inside the building was a big challenge for crews on scene, who had to go door-to-door to notify tenants about the situation.

“Right now… it looks like we do have some damage to the electrical system in the building,” he said.

By Thursday evening, Brampton Fire Chief Bill Boyes said that residents were being allowed back into the building.

“We’ve had power restored to all of the floors, except for 24 units on the upper three floors,” he said. “There is power, there is heat, and there is water.”

The investigation is ongoing.