Three people have been taken to hospital after a house fire tore through a Markham home early Friday morning, in a blaze that had already reached an advanced stage by the time emergency crews were able to reach it. CBC News reported that York Regional Police were among those responding to the scene, where the fire had spread from one residence to another in a quiet part of the city north of Toronto.
The fire broke out at around 6:45 a.m. near Chambury Crescent and Carleton Road, in the area of Kennedy Road. By the time firefighters arrived, the flames had gained significant ground, leaving little margin for the crews who would have to work quickly to get everyone inside the homes to safety.
Police said the families living in both affected homes had largely managed to get themselves out before help arrived. As they evacuated, however, they alerted fire crews that two family members were still inside, trapped on the third floor of the building as the fire continued to burn beneath and around them.
Firefighters were able to locate those two people and bring them out of the home. According to the account given to CBC, the pair were then placed in the care of York Region Paramedic Services and rushed to Markham Stouffville Hospital, where they were treated for what officials described as serious injuries.
In total, three people ended up being taken to hospital as a result of the fire. Two of them were the family members pulled from the third floor and listed in serious condition, while a third person suffered injuries described as minor in the chaos of the early morning emergency.
Because the fire had jumped from one home to another, the danger was not limited to a single address. Police said multiple homes in the area had to be evacuated as a precaution while crews worked to bring the flames under control and make sure the blaze did not spread any further along the street.
Officials later confirmed that all of the occupants of the homes had been accounted for, easing fears that someone might still be missing. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, with police, firefighters and paramedics having all been called in to respond to an incident that turned a normal weekday morning into an emergency for several families.