Pair of Niagara apartment fires under investigation

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Seniors were threatened by a pair of fires in Niagara region this morning; one of them, deadly.

Late this morning fire crews came out to a four storey building at 88 Vintage Cres in St Catharines, for a kitchen fire in a second floor unit. When firefighters arrived because this building houses people who are elderly and debilitated firefighters did their best to deal with the smoke, put out the flames and evacuate people. CHCH News spoke to Terri Basic, whose mother lives in the building.

“I called my mom. I said, ‘listen, there might be a fire in the kitchen. Please don’t panic. Get up. Go to the kitchen.’ And as she walked she could smell smoke. She opened the door and the hallway was full of smoke. I said ‘shut the door immediately, get to the balcony.’ I will call you right back. I called 911 and spoke to the captain. He said they are already here.”

Earlier this morning a 74 year old woman in Niagara Falls died in a fire. She lived in a top floor unit at Buckley Towers. A visitor was on the top floor and heard a noise. He opened her unlocked door, saw the smoke and called 911.

Niagara Falls fire chief Lee Smith says 25 firefighters responded to that call. “They set up quickly to put out the fire in minutes. Unfortunately one of the victims in the fire, a single resident in the apartment passed away.

Fortunately the smoke was contained to the top floor. All of the elderly residents in that building were advised to stay in place.