CORNWALL, Ont. – One person is recovering after being rescued from a two-story building in a fire Wednesday morning.
City firefighters, police, and EMS were called to the Gloucester Street South residence around 9 a.m.
Fire Chief Pierre Voisine told Seaway News the first floor of the building was vacant but firefighters had to use a ladder to rescue an occupant from the second floor.
Voisine noted that five male occupants were in the home at the time of the blaze.
“Four other men self-rescued and refused to be taken to hospital,” he said.
A section of Water Street between Marlborough Street and Race Street is closed as authorities investigate the cause of the fire.
Neighbours Tony Flaro and Ashly MacGillivray saw the frightening scene unfolding as they looked out their windows.
“The guy that was in the back was screaming, ‘I’m going to die. Somebody help me,” said Flaro. “I tried to get the ladder out to help him, but it was frozen to the ground.”
MacGillivray and her young daughter were enjoying breakfast together when they first heard a desperate cry for help from the burning building.
“We could hear screaming for 20 minutes,” she said, holding onto her young daughter. “When I looked outside I could see smoke. So I ran out and saw a man jump out of the side window. Then he took off up the street somewhere. Two others were helped by paramedics. There were five men in total.”
