Update: Car fire spreads to backpacker hostel in downtown Vancouver, guests forced to flee

Stefanie Zibert and Marlene Kayser, both 29 and visiting from Germany, were asleep on the first floor of the Samesun Backpackers hostel when they heard banging on the doors and people screaming “fire!”

“I woke up and I was, ‘Oh my gosh,’” said Zibert, who is from Munich.

Another girl in their room suggested it was just a bad joke because it was a Friday night and people had been drinking. But when they opened the door they saw smoke everywhere.

All they had time to grab were their passports.

By the time they got to the stairs they couldn’t see anything.

“It’s unbelievable, it’s really crazy,” said Kayser, who is from Berlin.