A man was extricated from a basement of a home and revived in northwest Barrie after a fire started on Wednesday morning, the city’s fire chief confirmed.
At about 8:30 a.m., firefighters were called to extinguish a blaze that was contained to the basement of a Letitia Heights home, Barrie fire chief Cory Mainprize said.
Firefighters removed an unresponsive man from the basement, but they were able to revive him, Mainprize said, adding the victim was transported to the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and subsequently to a Toronto area trauma centre.
“The fire was extinguished very quickly,” Mainprize said. “The fire did contain itself to one room and it was a slow, smoldering fire.”
Mainprize said an upstairs unit of the home was occupied but that its residents were able to escape because of working smoke alarms.
“About 20 to 22 firefighters attended the scene,” he added. “The (Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office) is investigating right now.”
At this point, it’s unclear how the fire started and what the estimated cost of damages is.
Mainprize said the fire isn’t being investigated as suspicious.