More than 50 Hamilton firefighters battled ‘stubborn’ John Street South blaze

Hamilton firefighters battled a stubborn" blaze in a vacant John Street South building for several hours early Sunday morning.

Firefighters were first called to a structure fire at the corner of John Street and Forest Avenue, north of Charlton Avenue East, just after 12:30 a.m. Sunday, fire chief David Cunliffe said in a media release.

When firefighters arrived, heavy smoke was billowing from the back of the two storey residential building in Corktown neighbourhood, previously in use as a medical office.

Inside the building, firefighters found and quickly extinguished the main body of fire" in a crawl space area," Cunliffe said.

However, the fire had already spread.

Cunliffe said the blaze was very stubborn" and labour intensive" due to the significant alterations to the building - compartmentalization" to suit its former tenants.

Firefighters called for reinforcements, upgrading the fire to multiple alarm" to help stop its rapid spread.

More than 50 firefighters battled the blaze for over four hours.

The building was unoccupied and no injuries were reported.

Photos from the scene show some damage to the roof area of the building. Cunliffe said damage is estimated to exceed $350,000.

The cause of the fire has not been determined.

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