Authorities are currently probing the death of a 59-year-old man in a fire that occurred on Thursday morning in Saint John’s west side. The man was found by firefighters while they were combatting a fire at a three-story building on Guilford Street. Chief Rob Nichol of the Saint John Fire Department reported that five firefighters sustained injuries during the firefighting efforts. Emergency responders were summoned to the location around 10:25 a.m., as indicated in a news release by the Saint John police on Friday.
Upon arrival, firefighters encountered intense smoke and fire challenges due to adverse weather conditions, the fire’s scale, and the building’s balloon-frame structure. The fire was eventually contained by around 2 p.m., although crews continued to work on extinguishing residual hot spots. Chief Nichol mentioned that the building suffered severe damage, rendering it uninhabitable. The exact number of individuals displaced from the multi-unit property remains unknown.
The incident is now under investigation by the police, provincial fire investigators, and the New Brunswick Coroner Services.