A Friday afternoon fire at a downtown Barrie apartment building has been deemed suspicious.
More than 20 firefighters responded to the blaze on Mary Street and there was also a heavy police presence in the area.
Shortly before 2 p.m., emergency crews responded to 68 Mary St., a 40-unit residential building located between Dunlop Street West and Ross Street, for an apartment fire and heavy smoke filling the hallways.
At the scene, Barrie Fire Chief Cory Mainprize told BarrieToday several people were evacuated as soon as first-responders arrived.
One person was trapped in their third-floor apartment at the rear of the building.
“Crews performed a window rescue to remove that person from the third floor and that person has since been transferred to hospital,” the chief said.
Mainprize said there were no other injuries and the fire was extinguished before 2:30 p.m.
When asked about the significant police presence, Mainprize said officers were first on the scene.
“Police arrived rather quickly; they must have had some units in the area. The one individual who was hanging out the window, police were actually preparing to catch the person should that person have fallen,” he said.
“The fire seems to have been contained to the hallway and the one unit," Mainprize added.
BarrieToday spoke to one man who said the apartment where the fire occurred was his and it was his girlfriend who was taken to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH).
The man, who did not provide his name, said the fire was deliberately set on his door.
“I was out getting coffee and I came back to see all of this chaos. My girlfriend was rescued from our apartment and when she came out she told me that someone lit a fire on our door,” he said. “I don’t know who would do that, but I hear it was gas poured on the door and on the floor in the hall.”
At the scene, Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon told BarrieToday that when police arrived around 1:30 p.m., they tried to gain entry to the building and were turned away by smoke.
The fire has since been deemed "suspicious in nature," and the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) was now on scene with police for the investigation.
"There is an investigation underway with regard to an incident that occurred here prior to the fire starting,” Leon said.
Leon confirmed the female occupant of the building sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to hospital as a precautionary.
Most residents of the building could also expect to be back in their units "by dinner time," while those from the third floor may need to wait a little longer, Leon said.
Some building residents were being given shelter inside two City of Barrie buses that were on the scene to keep people warm.
Mayor Jeff Lehman was handing out face masks to those who needed them and said the city is prepared to assist those residents who need it.
“I get advised when there is a structure fire and I wanted to see first-hand what was happening,” Lehman said. “There are calls to be made for the folks now if they aren't able to get back home tonight.
"It's an unfortunate situation and thankfully there appear to be no major injuries," the mayor added.
