Charges are pending after four people had to be rescued from a 10-unit apartment building in Mount Forest due to a fire that started in the attic.
The May 22 fire also landed a firefighter in the hospital after he suffered head and neck injuries from a partial ceiling collapse. He has since been released and is expected to return to duty in the next week.
Mount Forest, Arthur, Harriston and Clifford firefighters arrived to the apartment building on Queen Street shortly before 11am on Sunday to heavy smoke and fire visible from the roof, said Wellington North fire chief Dave Guilbault.
“We did an aggressive interior attack and rescued the people out of the apartment, rescued cats and extinguished the fire,” he said.
The fire has affected the 15 people living in the apartment complex, as two upper units have heavy fire and smoke damage and the two units below have water damage.
Two units on the other side of the building had removed or tampered with smoke detectors and two units didn’t have working smoke alarms, explained Guilbault.
He added firefighters had to enter the apartments to get the residents out.
“We had people totally unaware that there was a fire, because their smoke alarms weren’t working, so that’s not acceptable,” said Guilbault.
“Take that situation from 11 o’clock in the morning to 2 o’clock in the morning and there’s a different outcome here and that’s why I’m so upset that the smoke alarms aren’t working, because that’s your first line of defence, that’s what’s going to warn you there’s a fire so you can get out,” he said.
Guilbault explained the tenants could be fined if they tamper or remove the smoke alarms, while the landlord could be fined for not providing a working smoke alarm.
Charges are still pending, but Guilbault stressed everyone must have working smoke alarms – and they are not to be tampered with.
“If you continue to do that, we will continue to charge, and we’ll let the courts decide what the penalty is,” he said.
Three cats were also rescued from one of the apartments.
Guilbault said the cause has not been determined but he is not treating the fire as suspicious. The Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating.
