Woman pulled from Concession Street fire has died

A 68-year-old woman critically injured in a fire at a Concession Street apartment building Wednesday morning has died.

Hamilton police Const. Indy Bharaj said the woman died of her injuries around 3 p.m. June 22, several hours after firefighters pulled her from the apartment.

Both the Hamilton police arson unit and the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) are investigating the blaze in a basement unit at 805 Concession St., near East 33rd Street.

The exact cause is not known, but by all accounts it does not appear to be a suspicious fire," Bharaj said.

Emergency services were called to the four-storey building shortly before 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. Firefighters were told on route that someone may still be inside and once on scene quickly performed a search and rescue.

Firefighters found the woman in the apartment and removed her from the fire. Firefighters and paramedics provided first aid, before she was taken by paramedics to hospital in life-threatening condition.

Hamilton fire Chief Dave Cunliffe said firefighters were met with heavy smoke conditions in the apartment, but quickly brought the fire under control.

No one else was hurt and other residents were allowed back into their units. The fire caused about $200,000 in damages.

It's not clear what prevented the woman from escaping.

A spokesperson for the OFM said the fire marshal office is investigating the cause, origin and circumstance of the fire.

Investigators have completed their on-scene portion of the investigation but the investigation is ongoing and therefore it is too early to speculate on any details about the incident including presence of smoke alarms, cause or origin of fire, or any escape issues that could have been present," Sean Driscoll said in an emailed statement.

Hamilton police have also completed their investigation at the scene, including forensics.

The investigation is ongoing.

Nicole O'Reilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com