Smoking suspected as cause of blaze at Hamilton high-rise

“Careless use of smokers’ materials” is suspected as the source of a high-rise fire in central Hamilton resulting in an estimated $225,000 in damage.

The blaze at the apartment complex on Charlton Avenue East just east of Catharine Street South started just after 12 a.m. on Monday, first responders said.

“Crews reported a working fire with heavy smoke conditions on the eighth floor of a high-rise building,” deputy fire chief Dan Milovanovic said in a release.

Firefighters located the tenant of the suite in front of the building. He revealed his unit was where the blaze started. He was subsequently transported to hospital by paramedics for minor smoke inhalation.

Milovanovic said damage was extensive and that tenants on the eighth floor of the complex have been displaced from their units and have been given temporary shelter by the Red Cross.

1:02 How Office of the Fire Marshal investigators process investigation scenes