LONDON, Ont. – One person is dead and two others are in critical condition in hospital following a massive fire Thursday at a high-rise apartment building that housed mostly senior residents.
Deputy fire chief Jim Jessop confirmed that one person had died and two people taken to hospital remained in intensive care Thursday.
Residents described a chaotic scene as the fire quickly spread to from floor to floor of the 15-storey building and residents – most of them low-income and disabled seniors – tried to escape.
“People were actually on their balconies, tying sheets together, getting ready to jump,” Jessop said, describing the scene when firefighters arrived.
Witnesses said one woman made a rope out of clothes to try to climb down from her second-floor balcony.
“She was hanging off the balcony until the fire department found her,” one witness said. “They got the ladder and helped her out.”
Firefighters also rescued several unconscious residents who had passed out in smoke-filled stairwells, Jessop said.
The rest of the building’s residents were evacuated shortly after the fire broke out on the second floor after 3 a.m.
The Salvation Army was called in to assist and two city buses were brought to the scene to provide shelter, coffee and food for those forced outside.
Numerous residents were treated for smoke inhalation, some at the scene and others in hospital, Jessop said.
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Three firefighters were also taken to hospital for treatment of minor injuries and have since been released, he said.
Maria Garcia, who has a unit on the second floor, says she lived next door to the man who died and that she tried her best to save him.
“I yelled, ‘Go outside, you go outside! Please there’s fire!’ He said, ‘No,’ I said, `Please go outside!”‘
Jessop said officials have determined the fire started on the second floor of the highrise but the cause remains under investigation. The Ontario Fire Marshal was on the scene, he said.
Firefighters were expected to remain at the scene for most of Thursday.
The city has set up a reception centre to house residents forced out of their homes by the fire. Some could be out of their apartments for hours, while those who lived on the second floor could be out for days.
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