Two police officers from Hamilton are being hailed as heroes after they stepped in to help rescue 59 seniors from a burning retirement home.
The officers, Mark Morelli and Brent Salmon, and were on their way to an OPP detachment in Huntsville when from the highway, they noticed smoke pouring out of the Rowanwood Retirement Residence.
They rushed to the scene to offer their assistance.
"There was quite a bit of confusion and I believe we were the first ones there to actually let them know there was something going on that obviously needed a lot of attention," Morelli said.
The officer said they're not heroes, they just did what they had to do.
"We just sort of worked at getting the people out of there as fast as we could and as we worked we got a little system going and got everybody out," said Salmon.
The Huntsville fire chief said their quick actions helped save the incident from becoming a tragedy.
Fire officials said the fire broke out just before 11 p.m. Sunday and quickly spread throughout the building.
All 59 residents were evacuated safely and taken away from the scene by ambulance and bus.
Firefighters from three fire stations rushed to the scene to battle the blaze but their efforts were fruitless.
The retirement home, which had been operating for the past 25 years, was ruined.
With a report from CTV Toronto's John Musselman
