4 Dead, Including 2 Children, After Hamilton House Fire Sends 6 People to Hospital

A firetruck in Ontario in a file photo. (Jim Reed/Shutterstock)

Four people, including two kids, are dead after they were pulled from a house fire in Hamilton on Thursday night, the city’s fire department said.

Two other people found inside the home in the city’s east end were also taken to hospital where they were in stable condition, Hamilton police said in a statement early Friday morning.

Investigators were working to “notify family and next of kin about this tragic event,” police said.

Crews were called to a townhouse in the city’s south just after 11 p.m., and upon arrival firefighters could see heavy smoke and fire coming from the front and back of the unit, the Hamilton Fire Department said in a statement Friday.

The first crew to arrive was told there were people trapped on the second floor, the fire department said.

“Crews advancing to the second floor encountered heavy smoke and high heat. During search and rescue operations (four) people were found on the second floor by firefighters and were quickly removed,” the department said in a statement.

Firefighters and paramedics started life-saving measures on the four people, including two children, before they were taken to hospital. Life-saving measures continued there, the fire department said, but all four died from their injuries.

Residents were evacuated from the two adjacent units and could return to their homes Friday, police and fire said.

Ontario’s Office of the Fire Marshal is investigating and the cause of the fire, as well as the extent of the damage, has not yet been determined.