Thirty homes were evacuated early Friday morning in the Plattsville area after a building fire caused heavy smoke to fill the area.
Darcy Harper lives in the area and says there was smoke everywhere. “It was just fully engulfed in smoke… and the whole neighbourhood was covered in smoke.”
The blaze started just before 6:30 Friday morning in a two storey building on Albert Street. Officials say the building has a vacant store front with an apartment on the second floor. The person who lives in the upstairs unit managed to safely get out.
Peter Armstrong is new to Plattsville but managed to capture the blaze on camera. He took over 200 pictures of fire fighters battling the orange flames as they ripped through the building.
“As it burned more it started coming out the top...five or six feet up the top...lots of smoke… gray and brown and black smoke”
Investigators say the cause of the fire is unknown and they have called the Ontario Fire Marshal to investigate.
Officials say because of the heavy smoke and wind, the call was made to evacuate the homes, surrounding the building.
Tammy Braby was asleep when fire fighters woke up her family early this morning.
“It was pretty scary this morning at 7 o’clock I have a four year old who didn't understand what was going on and why we had to leave… when we evacuated we saw heavy smoke as we were leaving so packed up the two kids and left and went up to the fire hall for a couple of hours.”
The damage to the property is quite extensive, and parts of the foundation are crumbling. Police say one fire fighter was treated on the scene for minor injuries after part of the building collapsed.
Albert Street between York and Douro Street were closed for most of the day.
