Markham house fire leaves child in critical condition

A nine-year-old child is in critical condition after being pulled from a house fire in Markham, Ont. on Friday, fire officials say.

Emergency crews were called to a residence located at 16th Avenue and 9th Line just after 12 p.m.

York Regional Police said that as fire crews cleared the residence, a child was located inside suffering from critical injuries.

Markham Battalion Fire Chief Kent Mortson told CP24 firefighters received reports that a nine-year-old boy was trapped.

“When crews arrived first on scene, we have heavy smoke and flames coming out of the garage into the house,” Mortson said Friday afternoon.

The child has been rushed to hospital and remains in life-threatening condition, police said.

“It was a very complex fire for us. We had all crews working diligently,” Mortson said.

“Unfortunately, the fire got to the front door, so we were unable to get in, but crews did get by the fire and were able to get the boy as quickly as we possibly could.”

It’s unclear if there are any other injuries.

The cause of the fire is under investigation and the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) will be attending the scene, police said.

“We are at the initial stages of the investigation, and we will be looking at the origin, circumstances and the cause around this incident,” Jim Demetriou, a spokesperson for the OFM, said at the scene on Friday night.

Demetriou added that it’s still too early to tell the scale of the damage done to the home and that teams will be returning tomorrow to conduct their investigation.

Road closures are in effect while crews remain on-scene.