Officials said the fire broke out in the building shortly before 11 a.m. Monday.
Fire Chief Karen Fry posted a video of the firefighting efforts on Abbott Street, saying “many occupants were rescued”.  She and other officials have not said how many people were rescued, nor did they provide further details.
The burning building has businesses on the ground floor and houses on the upper levels, while it seems that the fire started on one of the floors of the houses.
Fry’s video showed smoke falling from a four-story brick building near Water Street as firefighters sprayed water upstairs.
Shortly after noon, the leader wrote that “13 fire engines” were at the scene of the fire with the three alarms and that someone living on the second floor had been rescued.
As of 12:45 p.m., two patients had been taken to hospital, according to BC Emergency Health Services.
Their terms were not provided.
The BCEHS said a total of seven paramedics and three paramedics were sent to the site, which is in a neighborhood popular with tourists and locals for its bars, restaurants and shops.
The upper floors are run by a non-profit organization as a one-room hotel for lower income residents.
The organization that manages the building, the Atira Women’s Resource Society, told CTV News that the hotel has about 90 units and that a sorting area has been set up to help those displaced by the fire.
Staff at Atira were already able to offer some residents alternative accommodation on other properties, a spokesman said.  They also work with a partner organization to provide overnight shelter.
Atira was unable to say how many people were living in the building at the time of the fire.
From morning until afternoon, smoke was visible from several kilometers away as flames poured from the roof of the red brick building.  Some in the area reported power outages and the Simon Fraser University Goldcorp Arts Center closed “due to poor air quality”.
The school said all events and classes in the Woodwards building have been canceled.  Vancouver police are urging drivers to avoid the area because of the fire.
The Vancouver Fire Department is telling those in the downtown area to keep their windows closed to avoid toxic fumes blowing indoors.
This is breaking news and will be updated. 
With files from Maria Weisgarber of CTV News Vancouver
Smoke appears to be blowing outside Vancouver’s Gastown neighborhood during a fire with three alarms on April 11, 2022. 
Firefighters work to put out a three-fire alarm in Vancouver’s Gastown neighborhood on April 11, 2022. (Submitted)
Spectators watch the scene of a fire in Vancouver on Monday, April 11, 2022. (Jim Fong / CTV News Vancouver)
The scene of a fire on Abbott Street is pictured in Vancouver on Monday, April 11, 2022. (Jim Fong / CTV News Vancouver)
A fire rips through a building in Vancouver’s Gastown neighborhood on Monday, April 11, 2022. (Jim Fong / CTV News Vancouver)