Six people, including five Saskatoon police officers, were taken to hospital after a Wednesday morning house fire.
Officers responding to the fire in the 200-block of Avenue L South broke a basement window, removed security bars and convinced a man to come out of the basement.
“The basement was covered in smoke and flames,” Saskatoon police Chief Troy Cooper explained.
Members of the Saskatoon Fire Department arriving at the scene just after 9:15 a.m. CT treated him for burns and smoke inhalation before he was taken to hospital. Police said his injuries were serious.
Five police officers were also taken to hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
“We expect them to recover fully. Some of them are suffering worse than others and having a little difficulty talking, but we’re certainly grateful that it’s not worse than it was,” Cooper said.
“We’re very proud of our officers today for saving the life of a Saskatoon resident.”
WATCH BELOW: Saskatoon police Chief Troy Cooper describes how officers rescued a man from a burning house.
Firefighters from Station No. 1 received the call at 9:17 a.m., but became delayed at the Canadian Pacific Railway crossing at 20th Street and Avenue K South and crews were immediately sent from No. 2 Station on Diefenbaker Drive.
“We feel that our fire Station No. 2 on Diefenbaker Drive, for them to have their reaction time in less than a minute once they received the call and get out the door and then a three and a half minute travel time to an incident outside their district, we feel they did a very effective job,” fire Chief Morgan Hackl said.
Once the train had cleared the crossing on 20th Street, the crews from No. 1 hall arrived at 9:25 a.m.
They arrived to find flames coming from the front of the house and started knocking back the fire to allow other firefighters to enter the home.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.