Damage is estimated at $400,000 followed an early-morning fire in a downtown Guelph apartment building.
Cory Fleming was asleep inside the Regent Street complex when he was awoken by police shouting for him to get up and get out.
He didn’t see any smoke or flames, and didn’t realize the gravity of the situation until he made his way outside and saw the building’s roof on fire.
Firefighters had arrived at the scene around 12:40 a.m. Thursday, after being alerted to the fire by a taxi driver who saw the flames.
The same driver, police say, started knocking on doors and windows to wake up the people living inside.
“If it wasn’t for him, I would have been dead right now,” Fleming said.
“I can’t thank him enough.”
By the time firefighters arrived – only moments after the cabbie’s call – most residents were already out of the building.
Its close-quarters neighbourhood made attacking the fire from the outside nearly impossible.
“We had to park a ways away, and then fire crews had to walk in carrying all their tools,” said deputy fire chief John Osborne.
With ladders difficult to set up and the tight space, crews instead pulled down walls and ceilings inside the building to get at the flames.
Firefighters remained on site for most of the morning, as hotspots flared up.
It’s believed the fire began in the building’s chimney.
