A three-alarm house fire in Brampton on Saturday morning has claimed the life of one man and sent two others to hospital.
Next-door neighbour, Aneesha Chawla, described a chaotic scene after he first saw smoke from his window at around 7:30 a.m.
“I saw the lady from the other house, she was running out and she was screaming, ‘Can you help us? There are people inside the house,’” he recalled.
Chawla said he and others called 911. He said one person had jumped out a window to escape the blaze, and another was cold and barefoot, so he had them sit in his garage for warmth.
“I spoke to the owner of the house and he was crying. At that time, I realized that not everything is right … but I didn’t know that somebody passed.”
Chawla said fire crews were quick to respond to the home in the Mississauga Road and Buick Boulevard area. Brampton fire Chief Nick Ruller said initial reports indicated several people were trapped inside.
Ruller said crews arrived to find heavy smoke from a distance and began an interior fire attack. They had to perform “multiple rescues” using ground and aerial ladders.
“We also had reports of an occupant that had jumped from the second floor at the rear and other occupants on other floors,” he added.
Three men were taken to hospital, and Ruller confirmed one of them later died.
The other two adults’ injuries were described as non-life threatening.
“The one occupant that was pronounced deceased was an elderly male,” Ruller said, adding that five of the eight people living in the two-storey home were inside at the time.
“It’s a multi-generation generational family that is living there. And the ages and genders of the occupants ranged from children to elderly,” he said.
Crews remained on scene throughout the morning, extinguishing hot spots and dealing with a structural collapse at the back of the building.
According to Chawla, the family that lives at the home is originally from India and includes three generations.
“Good family, nice people,” he said.
“I moved here almost three and a half years ago, so they are like good, good, good friends of ours. We meet them on festive occasions.”
Peel Regional Police said the residence has been cordoned off while Brampton Fire, the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office and the 22 Division Criminal Investigation Bureau investigate.