The North Bay Fire Department says there was a structure fire at the Empire Living Centre Thursday night.
The fire department says fortunately a staff member noticed the smell of smoke in the hallway while doing her rounds.
Dana Jodouin, an RPN opened the door to find the tenant of that unit sitting in a chair while smoke was coming from the bed.
The tenant was evacuated to a safe area and 911 was called.
Other nearby tenants were also evacuated to safety.
Deputy Fire Chief Greg Saunders says staff on a regular basis do an evacuation practice.
“And I think that training certainly paid off in this case. Because the employees acted as they’re expected to. They did a terrific job in managing what was obviously a very tense circumstance for them,” Saunders says.
The fire department says they quickly put out the fire.
The tenant was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation but is expected to be fine.
The fire department says the specific unit suffered significant smoke damage.
Saunders says they’ve identified the cause as being a heating pad on a mattress.
He has no damage estimate at this point.

Filed under: empire-living-centre, fire