Video shows suspect setting fire to Sanford Ave. home in Hamilton

Hamilton police have released video of a suspect wanted for setting fire to a home with a couple and their child inside two weeks ago.

The video shows the male suspect walking across the street, turning on a headlamp and climbing up the stairs of the front porch. The blaze then started shortly after 10 p.m. on Feb. 13 at the house located at 48 Sanford Ave. South.

Garrett Anstey said he was in the upstairs of his apartment with his wife and daughter when he heard people downstairs screaming “fire.”

“I came downstairs with the four-year-old. I opened up that door but the flames just blew through the door,” he said in an interview the morning after the blaze.

The flames and smoke filling the home forced Anstey and his family back upstairs, where he thought they would die.

“I even asked…‘Are we going to die up here?’ Cause it was like three minutes the whole house was filled with smoke,” he said.

His wife suggested that he jump out of the second-storey window first so that he could catch their daughter.

“It was like the longest 30 seconds of my life just looking up at the window and screaming for her to jump and to drop the baby and I didn’t hear anything,” Anstey said.

“After I would say about 30 seconds to a minute, my kid came down but I couldn’t catch her because I couldn’t see. It was just like black smoke everywhere.”

Fortunately, other people arrived after they heard “loud bangs” and saw the fire. They were able to catch the young girl and her mother.

The family was then taken to hospital for treatment.

The other people in the house managed to escape from the main floor after warning Anstey and his family of the blaze.

The Office of the Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire, which led to approximately $250,000 in damages.

Hamilton police released video Monday of the unidentified male suspect setting the house on fire. He is described as white and has a medium build. He was last seen wearing dark pants, a dark jacket and a dark toque with a headlamp.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact Sgt. George Gallant at 905-540-5085.

READ MORE: Witnesses hear ‘loud bangs’ before fire started at home in Hamilton