A fire forced tenants of a Greenfield Street apartment building in Petrolia out of their homes early Friday morning.
Fire chief Jay Arns said Petrolia and North Enniskillen Firefighters along with Lambton OPP and EMS responded to a structure fire at around 3 a.m.
"One wall, two rooms and an exterior area were all fully involved in flames when we arrived and there was occupants on their balcony that we had to rescue using ladders," said Arns. "The entire building was charged with smoke, thick black smoke inside."
Arns said all of the occupants made it out of the building, and no injuries were reported.
"We set up an emergency shelter at the Greenwood Rec Centre, transported them over and set them up with cots and necessities of life for now," he said. "There was no damage beyond smoke in any of the apartments. The rooms that were damaged were storage rooms and work rooms, so we're hoping that our investigation can get wrapped up fairly quick and have them back by tomorrow, if not sooner."
At 8 p.m. Friday, fire crews said all residents were able to return to their homes.
The cause of the blaze is unknown, although Arns said early indications are that the fire originated on the outside of the building.
A damage estimate was not immediately available.
