Three people have died in a house fire in Hamilton.
Flames broke out on Grenfell Street around 11 p.m. Saturday night.
Speaking to reporters Sunday morning, Claudio Mostacci, the Hamilton Fire Department’s public information officer, said fire crews found heavy black smoke and flames coming from the residence when they first arrived on scene.
“Crews immediately went inside to do their search and rescue. They did encounter additional individuals inside,” Mostacci said.
“When we arrived on scene, a neighbour had gone inside the building to assist, to try to get people out but was not successful in getting to the people upstairs,” Mostacci added.
Speaking to CP24 Sunday morning, the neighbour, Jonathan Davidson, said he was able to get two occupants out of the residence but could not get to the second floor of the home.
Two men and one woman died in the fire.
“I came out. The house was on fire. There was a woman in the window. There was a gentleman in the living room, screaming for help. I ran over, got the older gentleman out of the house. I tried to convince the lady in the window to jump out, at which time she did... I knew there were three other people in the house, I just couldn’t get in. The fire was too bad," Davidson said.
"The first time I came in the house I could hear the older blind man screaming...He couldn’t see me, he couldn’t come to me. He was just confused. The second time I went back in it was just too late."
Davidson described the occupants of the house as "nice people from the neighbourhood."
"(They) would offer my nephews candy and talk to us and feed the birds and come over in the summer and socialize," he added. "They were just people that you’d want to know."
This is the second fatal house fire in Hamilton in less than two months.
On Aug. 6, a mother and two children were killed in a house fire.
They were identified as Victoria Maire, her son Robert and young daughter Abigail.