Merritt Fire Rescue Department (MFRD) was called to a house on the corner of Clapperton Avenue and Orme Street yesterday morning (Aug. 5) to suppress a fire that was already in full blaze when they arrived.
According to Fire Chief Dave Tomkinson, the blaze injured one.
“One occupant of the building had been taken to the hospital with some burns and smoke inhalation,” he said Wednesday morning.
BC Emergency Health Services confirmed the patient was taken to Kamloops in critical condition.
A total of 19 firefighters responded, with the ladder truck and engine.
Don Loewen, a neighbour, said his family heard the sirens at around 5:30 a.m., and his son, whose bedroom faces the now decimated home, told them it was on fire. By then the fire department had already arrived, and had it out within minutes.
“It was very efficiently and professionally done, for sure,” he said.
[The house] definitely looks gutted from this standpoint, we’ll have to investigate further,” said Tomkinson.
Fire investigators are now looking into the cause of the fire.
