‘Ambulances were coming and going’: Simcoe Street fire victims recall desperate moments in wake of blaze that injured 9

Victims of a Simcoe Street balcony fire that sent several people to hospital over the weekend recount their harrowing ordeal to CTV’s Sean Irvine.

It remains unclear how many people remained hospitalized following a weekend blaze in a central London apartment building that initially sent nine people to the hospital.

The fire – at 241 Simcoe St. - sent smoke and flames billowing from a sixth-floor balcony at about 6:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Inside, Mike Allen was visiting a friend just down the hall. When alarms sounded, the pair didn’t react.

“So many false alarms that we didn’t really pay attention to it,” he recalled.

But Allen says the situation quickly changed.

“Smoke started coming in under the door. So, we realized that we should have paid attention to the alarms,” he said.

Unable to escape safely, Allen sys the pair waited for firefighters to arrive.

“We got some towels and wet them down and put them around the door,” he recalled.

Meanwhile, the battle was on to save lives.

Dallas Bradley owns a home right next to the building. He witnessed multiple people taken to the hospital, including an infant.

“Ambulances were coming and going. I think there were four units that were here, and they came and went a couple of times,” Bradley said.

London police cited the holiday for not updating the investigation on Monday, but on Saturday, Insp. Maria Wright told CTV News, “There are no fatalities at this time. Just people being treated for smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Damage to the building could exceed $300,000, according to Platoon Chief Brent Shea of the London Fire Department.

Most of the damage was contained to the sixth-floor unit, according to Matt Senechal of London-Middlesex Community Housing, which operates the 12-storey structure.

“A lot of the damage is contained to the sixth-floor unit, and there is heavy smoke damage to the sixth floor and to the floors above,” he explained.

Uninjured tenants in at least 19 units are staying in a hotel. Remediation of their homes is underway, with the hope that most will return mid-week.

Meanwhile, resident Sarah Thorpe remains shaken. She lives on the seventh floor, above the fire.

“It shocked me. As I said, I’m still worried about any sirens, even now, because I’ve never been in a situation like this before,” she said.

This leads back to a warning from housing and fire officials to never ignore fire alarms.

Mike Allen admits he won’t anymore.

“As I said to my friend Trevor, ‘You know, we should have paid attention to that alarm, because, yeah, it was a bit unnerving,” Allen reflected.