7 rescued from roof of burning building
Seven people were rescued from the roof of a downtown building after their escape from an early morning fire was blocked by smoke Monday.
“There were seven tenants above the cafe, and upon our arrival they were out on the roof,” said St. Catharines fire Chief Dave Wood.
He said the tenants who lived in apartments above the Bistrobar Cafe at 385 St. Paul St. escaped the building through a window in a second-floor dormer, after the stairwell leading to the ground floor was filled with smoke.
“They went out through the window trying to find a safe way out, but there was no fire escape from that roof area. Our firefighters put up a ground ladder and were able to bring them down from the roof,” he said.
“It’s always a little daunting when you wake up in the middle of the night, and you’re hearing fire trucks and smell smoke.”
Wood said there were no injuries associated with the fire that started at about 3:30 a.m., in the building ’s basement.
The fire is under investigation by the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal.
Wood said the basement ceiling is less than two metres high, and the confined space would have made extinguishing the flames more of a challenge than normal. The fire, however, played a role in extinguishing itself.
“We were fortunate that when the fire developed it was right by a water pipe,” Wood said.
He said the heat from the flames likely melted the solder holding the pipes together, allowing water to spray into the basement helping extinguish the fire.
“We were lucky. When you get a fire in a confined space like that it makes it even more troublesome for us, if we had a good working fire to try to get to the scene of it.”
Wood said the Red Cross stepped in to provide temporary accommodations to the tenants until their apartments had been repaired.
“We had to displace them and give them 72 hours of shelter, and hopefully their apartments can be cleaned up to get them back into their normal housing.”
St. Paul Street was closed to traffic between Academy and Court Streets until about 6 a.m., as firefighters worked on the fire, after gaining access to the building by smashing the storefront windows.
Wood said the fire department’s response time was quick because the building is just around the corner from the fire department’s headquarters. He said three pumper trucks, a rescue vehicle and a ladder truck responded.