‘Smoke Alarms Save Lives!’: London family escapes basement fire after alerted by alarms

A family escaped from their Martinet Avenue home after a basement fire broke out early Saturday. CTV London's Brent Lale reports.

A London, Ont. family is lucky to be alive, according to the London Fire Department (LFD).

“The smoke alarms alerted the tenants, and they woke up by them and evacuated the house,” said Todd Rannie, district chief with LFD.

Early Saturday morning, fire broke out in the basement of a home on Martinet Avenue in the east end of the city.

“Crews encountered heavy smoke when we entered the building,” said Rannie. “They went to go to the basement, but they were forced back from the heat. They went outside and hit the fire from the yard.”

With zero visibility because of the smoke, and the crowded basement, firefighters knew the fire was downstairs because of the heat but couldn’t find it initially.

After doing a 360-degree search outside, they discovered a blackened window with an orange glow.

Two fire crews and two lines returned to the basement, but firefighters encountered a lot of clutter and combustible items.

“It presents a dangerous situation for a lot of the crews, but they got through that and they found the scene of the fire. It was a bedroom in the basement that was pretty much consumed by fire,” said Rannie.

The residents were already outside, and police and EMS were on scene.

“They went to the hospital with some CO inhalation and smoke inhalation, but I believe they’ll be fine,” said Rannie.

A fire inspector is on scene looking for cause and origin of the blaze, while London police officers stand by to hear the results of his investigation before determining their next steps. Rannie had a couple of messages after leaving the scene.

“You definitely want to have clear paths to the basement, especially if you have people sleeping in the basement,” said Rannie. “There was a bedroom down there, and that person was lucky to get out of the bedroom.”

The other is the importance of working smoke detectors which helped this family escape safely, “Smoke alarms save lives!”