A family with three young children has been displaced by a fire that broke out inside of their northwest London townhouse.
London firefighters were called to 660 Platts Lane just after 6 p.m. Monday. When crews arrived on scene fire was coming from a second storey window.
"Our crews made entry and were able to find the fire and immediately put it out. We had it pretty much under control within 20 minutes," said Platoon Chief Colin Shewell.
Working smoke alarms provided early notification to the blaze, which Shewell said helped not only get the mother and three children, all under 8 years-old, out unscathed, but minimized the extent of the damage.
"When notified [the family] got out and stayed out and were able to call our communications centre back and update crews that all individuals were out of the townhouse," said Shewell, who noted the father was not home at the time. "It really makes our working environment a lot better to be able to go in and put the fire out rather than having to do a search and rescue. It definitely sped up the process which helped with our fire suppression activity and limited the damage."
The fire was contained to one bedroom, however there is extensive smoke damage throughout the townhouse. The initial damage estimate is $100,000.
"Unfortunately, this family will be displaced for sometime. With the smoke migration throughout the house they will probably be in need of some personal items moving forward," said Shewell. "It is a Western University owned townhouse complex, so they were looking after rehousing when crews departed the scene."
A fire inspector was on scene for several hours Monday night probing the cause. The fire is not believed to be suspicious, said Shewell.
