An investigation is now underway following a three-alarm fire at highrise near Hamilton’s waterfront that claimed the lives of two children and an adult on Sunday.
The blaze broke out in a first-floor unit at 35 Brock St., near John and Catharine streets.
Firefighters were called to that area shortly 10:15 a.m. and were met with heavy smoke in the hallways and stairwells, along with multiple people struggling to exit the building, Hamilton Fire Chief David Cunliffe said.
He added that flames could be seen “blowing out of the apartment into the hallway” when they arrived at the affected apartment on the first floor.
Hamilton fire said crew members were faced with “extreme heat, extreme smoke, extreme flame,” but “pushed their way into the apartment and knocked down the fire,” which heavily damaged the unit and the hallway.
The fire was so significant that more than 60 firefighters were dispatched to the scene.
On Monday, Hamilton Police Service (HPS) said six people were inside that first-floor unit when the fire started, however only four of them made it out safely before it was “consumed by the fire.”
Spokesperson Jackie Penman said the children who died are 21 months old and 3 years old and were found by firefighters in a bedroom.
She added that HPS’s homicide unit has been deployed due to “pediatric death protocol,” but said that at this time there is no information to suggest this fire is suspicious in nature.
Penman said the third victim, a 52-year-old resident of the building, was located by fire crews in the ninth-floor stairwell and later pronounced dead. He had “no known connections” to the two other victims, she noted.
“The circumstances resulting in his injuries are still under investigation and post-mortem examinations of all three victims are scheduled for (Tuesday) at the Ontario Forensic Pathology Unit in Toronto,” Penman said.
On Sunday, paramedics said a total of 12 people were transported to the hospital as a result of the fire: one of them who was without vital signs and four others who were in serious condition. They said that four others were assessed at the scene, but did not want to be taken to hospital.
The injured ranged in age from a one-month-old baby to a 77-year-old senior.
No firefighters were hurt, the chief added.
Tenants scrambled to get out of burning building
Among those hurt in the blaze was third-floor resident Jonathan Matteson, who told CTV News Toronto that he eventually made it out of the building with his dog Benji, but said that he and his roommates all ended up with smoke inhalation.
“By the time I hit the second floor it was thick black smoke. I couldn’t see what was within two inches of my face. Luckily, the firefighters managed to get us all out,” he said.
Several others shared stories of how they scrambled to get out of the burning building as dark hallways filled with thick black smoke.
Fiza Edroos said she was separated from her baby girl as she tried to help an elderly neighbour get out of the building.
“It was just smoke, black smoke. You can’t see where you’re going. There are no lights, no sprinklers, you’re inhaling it and it’s pitch black that stairwell. It’s a stairwell to death, I feel,” she shared.
With no way down, Edroos said she got off on the 11th floor and started banging on every door “hoping someone would open up, just open up to get us into an apartment.”
She eventually managed to take shelter on someone’s balcony.
The woman’s husband, Naveed Imroze and their one-year-old daughter, who had left just moments earlier, found their way to another stranger’s balcony on the 10th floor.
Imroze told CTV News Toronto that when he reached the ninth floor, it was “pitch dark” and the sprinklers weren’t running so they went up a floor and “somebody opened the door for us.”
“We went to the balcony and standing there for three hours,” Imrose said.
It’s still not yet exactly clear how the fatal fire started, nor how much damages it caused.
Hamilton Police Service’s homicide and forensics units along with an arson investigator are now working jointly with the Office of the Fire Marshall (OFM) to determine the cause and point of origin of the fire.
Jim Kettles, a supervisor with the OFM, vowed they’d “leave no stone unturned with this investigation.”
“Tragically, there’s is a couple of children that perished in this fire, so it’s going to be a period of time before we’re done completing the scene here,” he said.
Hamilton police added that the examination of the scene is expected to take a “considerable amount of time and police may be on scene for several days.”
“Further scene examination will be required to better understand the nature of this fire,” she said.
“Part of that ongoing scene examination will include investigation into any smoke detectors in the unit and whether they were functioning properly.”
The building where the fire broke out is part of the Pier Towers complex and is managed by InterRent, which responded to inquiries about the building’s smoke alarms, emergency lighting, and sprinklers with a written statement.
“While we are unable to comment on the specifics of the fire currently, we are fully cooperating with all authorities as they investigate... Our immediate focus is on supporting displaced residents by helping to arrange for their temporary needs,” said Roseanne MacDonald Holtman, the company’s manager of customer relations.
The Red Cross is also providing support and temporary shelter those individuals.
With files from CTV News Toronto’s Janice Golding and CP24’s Joshua Freeman
