NORTH SYDNEY FIRE

The blue three-story building located at 324 Commercial Street in North Sydney bore heavy interior damage as the result of a suspicious fire, Sunday.

 Greg MacVicar – Cape Breton Post

Published on August 1st, 2010

NORTH SYDNEY — A man was hanging by his fingers from the window ledge of a burning building located at 324 Commercial Street early Sunday evening when he was saved from a 30-foot fall by firefighters.

“When we arrived here there was one person basically hanging from the third floor by his fingertips really,” said North Sydney Volunteer Fire Department Chief Lloyd MacIntosh, who got the call just before 5 p.m.

“We took the ladder off the first arriving engine. We sent a fireman up and the fireman took him down and he was removed to hospital.”

The man, who lived on the top floor of the three-storey blue steel-clad building next to the Subway restaurant, suffered smoke inhalation and third-degree burns to his hands and feet, according to Staff Sgt. Max Sehl of the Cape Breton Regional Police.

The victim was listed in serious but stable condition at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital around 8 p.m. Sunday. The building’s two other residents, David Collier and Eric Organ, escaped uninjured.

“The fire is deemed to be suspicious,” said Sehl. “What will happen overnight is we’ll be putting security on the building and then sometime tomorrow our forensic unit and the fire marshall’s office will be going in to investigate the cause of the fire.”

A man at the scene, who didn’t want his name used, said someone deliberately set fire to an entertainment unit and a chair left behind in the second-floor hallway when residents moved out recently.

“I can’t comment on that,” said MacIntosh when asked the cause of the fire. “There’s a whole lot more that’s going to come out of this. There’s more to it than meets the eye.”

He said the building’s two street-level stores — The Hair Boutique and Georgia Lee’s Gifts — “suffered some water and smoke damage” while the second and third storeys bore “heavy fire damage.” The Subway building appeared unaffected.

Organ said fireman told him his apartment and possessions were in good shape. But Collier, who didn’t have any insurance, lost “everything” in the blaze because he didn’t have time to take anything.

“I could hear wood cracking,” said Collier. “I opened my door and it was nothing but flames. It started just outside my door. As soon as I saw the flames, I was out of there.”

Eight fire trucks responded. (Greg MacVicar – Cape Breton Post)