Both the Hawkesbury and L’Orignal fire departments answered a call about a house fire on Sinclair Street in Hawkesbury. The building was a two-storey triplex that housed six people.

The original call came in at 2:35 a.m. Fire Chief Daniel Gascon said the roof “was fully involved” with flames visible to fire fighters when the first pumper truck arrived.

All six people got out of the building, but a small dog belonging to a woman living in one of the suites died in the fire. Chief Gascon reported that the owner of the triplex, who lived in one of the suites, alerted the couple living upstairs about the danger but they couldn’t get out because the second-floor entry was blocked. The owner then set up a ladder outside the front of the building and the couple were able to get out of the building through a second-floor window.

Fire fighters battled the blaze through the early-morning hours and got the situation under control around 11:20 a.m. Investigation of the site determined that the fire began on a second-floor exterior balcony then spread to the roof, and “discarded smoking materials” is suspected as the cause of the fire.

Chief Gascon urged all homeowners to make sure their smoke alarms are in working order and to make sure there is an open escape route available in case of a fire.