'The fire alarm wasn't loud enough': 40 people displaced after Sarnia apartment fire

About 40 people have been displaced after fire broke out at the apartment building they live in.

Two floors of the building on Earlscourt Drive near Roger Street were evacuated on Sunday night.

“My wife was sleeping I was playing video games with my buddy. We ended up hearing just a little sound like somebody holding a bell and just a ‘ding-a-ling.’ It wasn't loud the fire alarm wasn't loud enough to let people know,” said resident Michael Anthoney Whitstone who was treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation.

“As I exited my apartment I saw smoke coming just on the top of the ceiling around the corner of the building in the hallway — as I made my way to that corner of the hallway and I looked down there was completely black smoke,” he added.

Whitstone recounted haering people screaming from in the black smoke about animals and people trying to make it out of the building. He said he took it upon himself to run up and down the hallways banging on walls and doors, screaming that there was a fire.

“The first arriving crews weren't aware that there was an actual fire in place. It was just an alarm when we when we were initially dispatched so then once they got here... it was a pretty quick response on the on duty crew that really saved a good portion of the building,” said Platoon Chief Randy McDonald.

According to McDonald, the fire did breach the initial apartment and made it up to the third floor into an unoccupied apartment, which was pretty much controlled by an incoming crew.

The investigation into the cause of the fire continues and there is no damage estimate available yet.