Man sent to hospital, pets rescued from fire in Hamilton’s Kirkendall North neighbourhood

Firefighters say one person and five pets were rescued from a three-alarm blaze involving two homes in Hamilton’s Kirkendall North neighbourhood.

Hamilton Fire Chief Dave Cunliffe estimates some $1.5 million in damage was sustained by the homes with the roof “burned off” two and a half storey homes in an incident that started around Noon Thursday.

“We’ve had some structural collapse because of that. This was a significant fire,” Cunliffe explained. “It went to a third alarm at the height of the battle, we had over 50 firefighters on scene dealing with this incident, including four aerial ladder trucks.”

Cunliffe says the man was removed from the main floor with four dogs and a cat also extracted by firefighters.

Hamilton paramedics say the male, believed to be between 30 and 40 years old, was sent to a hospital burn unit with “critical life-threatening” injuries.

The pets were turned over to animal services and are believed to have suffered minimal injuries.

“It’s our understanding that the fire started in number 79 (Melbourne Avenue) and then lapped at roof level over to number 77,” he said.

A family of four at 77 Melbourne was on the second floor of the home when the blaze started.

They’ve since been put into shelter care with the Red Cross.

The cause of the fire has yet to be officially determined, and the investigation is now jointly in the hands of the fire department and the office of the fire marshal, according to Cunliffe.

Police closed off a stretch of Melbourne between Dundurn and Poulette Streets and expect it will be closed for some time, potentially until tomorrow.

Two adjacent homes didn’t sustain any fire damage in the occurrence.