Fire rips through home on Adelaide Street North
London, Ont. firefighters faced challenges on two fronts as they battled a blaze on Adelaide Street North early Friday morning.
The first challenge was the snow and freezing overnight temperatures.
"Stairs, and ladders, and driveways -- they get pretty slippery,” Platoon Chief Dave Hood told CTV News London. “Valves on the truck, they start to freeze and we've got to be very careful of that while we're on scene."
Emergency responders were called to 712 Adelaide St. N. around 3:40 in the morning.
When they arrived, fire crews found flames on all levels of the home.
The other complicating factor they faced was that collected items filled many rooms in the home from floor-to-ceiling.
Hood said that made it unsafe to go inside.
"Trying to make entry was impossible,” he said. “When you take into consideration the weight of all the stuff that is stored in the building, [that’s] load on the structure it isn't designed for. Then you take into account it's currently under demolition by fire and we're putting water on it -- that adds up to a really dangerous situation for anybody who's going to be inside."
First responders had been informed that the home had a lone occupant who had not been accounted for.
Police said they have since reached out to a family member who spoke to that individual and confirmed they are safe.
London police closed Adelaide Pall Mall Street to Piccadilly Street, but it has since been reopened.
The damage estimate established after the fire is about $400,000.
The fire remains under investigation.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.