‘I heard crackle, crackle, crackle’: Overnight fire in Sarnia sends one to hospital with life-threatening injuries

CTV London’s Bryan Bicknell says the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office is investigating a fire in Sarnia that sent one person to hospital.

The Office of the Ontario Fire Marshall is investigating after an overnight fire in Sarnia sent one person to hospital in life-threatening condition.

It happened in a multi-residential unit at the corner of Devine Street and Vidal Street.

Reta Maness, who lives in the building, was first to discover the fire in her neighbour’s unit.

“I heard crackle, crackle, crackle. My cats kind of alerted me. So I come out and up this yellow pole here, there’s some light. I thought it was something. Here, the smoke was up to here. This window. The man was throwing things at the window,” she explained.

Maness called 911 and moments later emergency crews arrived. Fire officials say crews entered the building and managed to pull a man out of a lower unit.

Irene Flory lives in the house next door and describes what happened next.

“I saw a guy being taken out of the building, and he collapsed on the grass. And they were applying CPR to him. Apparently, he had expired. So they brought him back with CPR,” she said.

A man was taken to hospital with injuries described as life-threatening.

According to tenants, there are 13 units in the building, with at least a dozen people living there. Fire officials say no one else was hurt, and the fire did not spread to any of the other units.

Tenant Jon Vanpraet lives in a neighbouring unit. He said he’s shaken up.

“It’s a lot to take in, especially with everything going on. Obviously, the fire for the tenants, and things like that. Haven’t slept all day. No hydro. Nobody has hydro, so it’s been very stressful,” he said.

Investigators are working to pinpoint a cause, said Russ Morningstar, lead Fire Investigator with the OFM.

“All we can say is right now, that it’s contained to the one bedroom of the one unit, 280 lower Devine Street. Right now, we are currently looking at the fire safety measures. The smoke alarm we believe was not activated from the fire. So smoke alarms are your first, your first warning sign,” said Morningstar.

Damage is estimated at between $50,000 and $100,000.