Photo Courtesy: St. Thomas Fire Department
One resident has died in a fire Thursday afternoon in one of six units at a Mitchell Street apartment.
The call came in around 4:30 p.m. and firefighters quickly knocked down the flames.
Chief Fire Prevention Officer Kim Destun tells myFM the Ontario Fire Marshall’s Office has been called in to investigate the fire.
The victim was a female resident. The name and age of the deceased has not yet been released.
City police and firefighters remained at the residence overnight to secure the scene.
There were 133 fire-related deaths in Ontario last year, including the loss of young children and families in several communities. It’s the highest number in more than 20 years.
Ontario Fire Marshal Jon Pegg says a high percentage of fatalities happen in homes without working smoke alarms.
In October of 2018 a man died in a house fire on Rice Road in St. Thomas and two residents of Caressant Care Bonnie Place were critically injured in a January 2019 blaze.
The provincial fire marshal’s office investigates all fatal fires and those that cause serious injuries. The office also is called in to investigate suspected arsons or other suspicious fires, explosions, drug-related blazes, ones at residences of the vulnerable or those that cause more than $500,000 damage.
