Neighbours fear worst in Hamilton fire

A woman was pulled from a house fire with no vital signs Thursday afternoon in Hamilton’s east end. While neighbours feared the worst, police say she is now in critical condition. Sean Leathong has the story.

As smoke billowed through the house at 58 Gage Avenue, firefighters got word that there was someone stuck in the basement. A 53-year old woman was taken out of the house. She had no vital signs.

Troy Howell lives close by and knows the family. He said a mother and her two daughters were home when the fire began around 11:40am. Both daughters managed to get out: “When we pulled up, I seen a lady on a stretcher and they were giving her CPR, they were giving her the chest compressions and stuff like that. They were in there sleeping and they woke up to a bunch of smoke and they pulled her Mom out with no vitals or something like that. She was being rushed to the hospital.”

While their mother was taken in an ambulance, the daughters were comforted by the Red Cross and victim services. Another neighbour, Rick Walker, said he knew the victim well.

“I heard it on the news and I came up here so right away I seen the house and I knew it was Nina’s.”

Rumours of her death circulated in the neighbourhood, but they appear to be unfounded.

Staff Sergeant Dave Henick: “She was vital signs absent and has since been revived and she’s currently in critical condition and Hamilton General Hospital.”

By 12:30 in the afternoon the fire was under control as crews began cleaning up.

And in the aftermath, you can see all of the burned up debris that now sits on the porch in a fire that only took about 25 miniutes to burn. And of course on the second floor, all the broken glass from the windows that had to be kicked out to get the smoke outside of the building.

Though smoke flowed through every window of the house, fire fighters say that the flames were most intense in the basement, where the victim was at the time.

Claudio Mostacci, Hamilton Fire Department: “All we know is that it was a very heavy fire. At one point, we had to evacuate everyone because we thought that the floors were going to start collapsing.”

Gage Avenue remained closed between Main and King for several hours, until the crews could ensure that the road was safe.

Hamilton fire said it would be too early to speculate on the cause of the fire or the cost of damage in dollars.