London Fire investigates cause of basement fire at SoHo home
CBC
The London Fire Department (LFD) is investigating what could have caused a basement fire at a house on the corner of Maitland and Hill streets on Wednesday afternoon.
Emergency crews responded to an alarm shortly before 4:15 p.m. and were able to contain the fire to the basement. There were two people inside the house and a cat in the back shed, who were all able to quickly evacuate and have not been injured, London Fire said.
"There was heavy smoke and [crews] did an offensive interior attack, where they went into the building and knocked down the fire and did primary and secondary searches to make sure no one was in the building," said platoon chief Kirk Loveland.
"It took some time, and we had crews on the main floor also doing search and rescue. There's quite a bit of damage in the basement area but everybody's safe. They got out."
Although fire prevention officers are investigating the fire's origin and circumstances, Loveland said preliminary damage is estimated to be at least $200,000.
The residents of the home will be relocated to a hotel for the night. The house had working smoke alarms which, Loveland said, was crucial in them escaping safely.
"It's important everybody has working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in their buildings as it's legislated," he said.
Fire crews are expected to remain on scene for a few hours into Wednesday evening. The intersection is closed off to traffic temporarily.
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