Person seriously injured in downtown Hamilton highrise blaze

A person suffered serious injuries in an early morning highrise fire in downtown Hamilton Sunday.

First responders were sent to 95 Hess St. S. - an 18-storey apartment building between Jackson and Hunter streets - at 2 a.m. for a fire alarm. Arriving firefighters called for reinforcements after detecting a smoke smell in the lobby and then finding an active fire in a seventh-floor apartment.

Firefighters entering that unit reported heavy smoke and high heat," said fire chief David Cunliffe in media release.

Firefighters searched the apartment and found a badly injured occupant. The patient was transported to the lobby while firefighters and paramedics performed life saving measures," Cunliffe said.

Hamilton paramedics took the occupant to hospital, Cunliffe said. Later, the patient who was in grave to critical condition" suffering from severe burns, was transported to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, he added.

Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, but not before the apartment unit was seriously damaged. Surrounding units had to be vented of smoke before tenants could be let back in.

In all, 12 fire units from across the city responded to the multiple alarm" fire call.

The Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal is investigating.

No cause or damage estimate is available, Cunliffe said, and no additional updates will be provided."

This is the second residential fire downtown Easter weekend. A blaze, caused by unattended cooking, broke out in an apartment above a variety store on Hess Street South Friday night. No one was injured in that incident.

Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com