People living in the Kelkiah Apartment building at 21 Wiseman Street were advised to leave their homes late on Tuesday.

The evacuation happened after engineers from the owners of the building and the ACT government were called in.

In other news:

There were undefined problems with the structure but then, according to the government, "ACT Fire and Rescue advised that vehicles are to be removed from the basement of the building as soon as possible to reduce any potential fire load in that area".

An ACT government spokesman said that on December 10 "the owners corporation for Kelkiah apartments advised Access Canberra of an engineering report that the corporation had commissioned which recommended that propping of the structural columns of the building's basement should occur."

On Tuesday this week, officials from the ACT government met engineers appointed by the owners corporation.

The government spokesperson said "at that time, there was no indication given to ACT government that the owners corporation would direct the evacuation of the building".

But the fire service then deemed the vehicles parked in the basement to be a fire risk.

It's not clear if the building has been emptied because of the fire risk alone or because of the original structural risk.

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