Four people were injured in a fire that started in an apartment in a three-storey building in Ottawa’s Hunt Club area Tuesday night, according to the Ottawa Paramedic Service.
Ottawa Fire Services says they received a call around 8:30 p.m. reporting an odour of natural gas in a three-storey stacked townhouse in the 100 block of Twyford Street.
When firefighters arrived at the scene, they declared a working wire, as they saw large amounts of smoke coming from the side of the structure. They note that the “door to the unit also had a heat signature indicating fire inside the unit.”
That was when they broke into the unit. Once inside, firefighters heard calls for help. When they followed the screaming sounds, they found and rescued a woman and a teenager on the kitchen floor. Firefighters rescued two more teenagers, one of them was already outside the unit by the time they arrived. The one that was outside was treated for minor injuries.
“Firefighters rescued the occupants and established a medical sector outside where the patients were assessed and treated for their injuries,” according to Ottawa Fire Services spokesperson, Nick Defazio.
Paramedics say the woman sustained serious injuries. She was taken to hospital in stable condition. Two teenagers sustained non-serious injuries. They were taken to hospital in stable condition. A third teenager was treated and released at the scene.
Firefighters extinguished the fire on the ground floor and basement and brought it under control at 9:19 p.m.
Crews then searched the structure and found and rescued a cat, bringing it outside and administering oxygen.
The smoke was ventilated out of the structure by high pressurized fans. When the air quality was declared safe, residents were allowed to go back inside their units. Victim Services was also dispatched to the scene to provide help.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.