A man suffered serious burns and the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal is investigating, following a house fire north of the village of Buckhorn on Thursday night.
Around 9:30 p.m., emergency crews were called to the scene on Northern Avenue, located along Little Bald Lake, about 15 kilometres north of Buckhorn in the Municipality of Trent Lakes.
Peterborough County OPP say firefighters were met with a fully engulfed fire.
Neighbour Bailey Clark say she and her fiancée heard a “huge bang” like an explosion and discovered the fire.
“So we looked outside the window and I saw the grass on fire there and then the right side of the house was on fire,” said Clark. “So we came running outside and called 911.”
A short distance away on Kennedy Drive — which connects with Northern Avenue — officers located a vehicle in the woods.
Paramedics treated the driver at the scene before transporting the individual to hospital.
Matt Patterson says he drove past the van on his back to his nearby cottage and found an injured man roadside.
“We saw a car in the ditch and a gentleman was standing on the side of the road — completely burnt from head to toe,” Patterson told Global News Peterborough. “No clothes on; his clothes were burnt right off … no hair.”
On Friday afternoon, OPP said the individual with “serious burns” has since been transported to a trauma centre in Toronto.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, police said.
Patterson and Clark say the incident was frightening.
“I still have goosebumps,” said Patterson. “It ruined our night completely. Seeing a gentleman like that — burnt like that — it was awful.”
More to come.
— with files from Germain Ma/Global News Peterborough