Fire injures firefighter, damages home, spreads to house next door in Barrhaven

Fire displaces families, injures firefighter CTV's Shaun Vardon has the latest on a massive house fire that ripped through a Barrhaven home before spreading to the neighbouring house.

Ottawa Fire Services says a firefighter has been injured after "a partial roof collapse" landed on him while fighting a fire in Barrhaven.

The injured firefighter was able to self extricate from the fire with the help of his colleagues and has been transported to hospital.

"They had a CT scan done. Thankfully, it came back negative and he was released last night," said OFS spokesperson Nick DeFazio. "He did not return to work but is resting at home and is doing well."

OFS says the fire started in a garage of a single family home Friday at 23 Sutcliffe Terr. It has then spread to the house next door.

Though all four members of the family who lived in the house were able to safely exit, they are now displaced, OFS adds. The two people from the neighbouring home were also displaced.

Firefighters rescued five pets from the fire. There were three dogs, a cat and a rabbit inside the house and oxygen was given to some of them,.

DeFazio is reminding residents that it's dangerous to go back into a house to save a pet.

"The best chance for their survival and your survival is to wait for us — our response times are fast. Let us know where the pets are, their last known location, and we will go in and rescue them."

They were able to prevent the fire from consuming the house next door. The fire that has spread into it was declared under control at 2:32 p.m., OFS adds.

The initial fire was completely under control at 2:37 p.m.

Barrhaven's garage fire has also resulted in the closure of a number of streets in the area of Sutcliffe Terrace, impacting school bus routes.

The Ottawa School Transportation Authority said on Friday in a statement some buses were delayed.

“OSTA is providing schools with a list of students who reside in the area of the closure and is asking that the schools contact those families to pick up those children from the school. As buses will need to reroute, it will cause some delays,:” read the statement.

“In the interest of time, this message is being circulated to all families on our email list. Please disregard if you're not impacted by this event.”