Man who died after Oakville apartment fire may have jumped to escape: police

A man found below the site of an apartment fire in Oakville may have jumped nearly a dozen storeys to escape the flames before he died, police said.

Emergency crews responded to a fire in a unit on the 11th floor of the complex on Queen Mary Drive, near Lakeshore Road West and Kerr Street, at 5:40 a.m. on Wednesday, police said.

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CST. Ryan Anderson, a media officer with the Halton Regional Police Service, said an adult male was located on the grass outside the building.

He was transported to hospital but was later pronounced dead.

“We’re investigating whether the male would have fallen or jumped from the balcony or window. Those are obviously two things we’re looking into,” he told CP24 at the scene.

Images from the scene show one of the apartment building’s unit windows burnt out and shattered.

Several storeys below, police tape can be seen surrounding a number of items strewn around on the ground outside the complex.

An investigation is underway after a fire in Oakville, Ont. left a person dead on July 5, 2023.

Phoebe Spence lives in the area and says she was awoken by the sound of breaking glass.

“He smashed both windows there, the larger window and the smaller window and his hands wrapped around both,” she said, adding that the man appeared to be hanging from the 11th floor unit.

“He was dangling from the window, screaming for help and kicking. I called my boyfriend to call the police and he said that he and several other people already did …I turned around and saw him fall from the building and hit the ground. I was stunned in that moment.”

Luc Carriere lives in the unit above the fire and told CTV News Toronto that he heard the man’s cries for help.

“I ran to my balcony and I saw him hanging from his fingertips at the bedroom window… he’s completely hanging over, but all the smoke is coming up from his window because all of a sudden the window broke and so I ran into the hallway, and I pulled the fire alarm,” he said.

The fire was contained to a single unit and police said they are not aware of any other injuries.

An investigation is underway after a fire in Oakville, Ont. left a man dead on July 5, 2023.

Police told CTV News Toronto that at the request of the family, the identity of the victim is not being released.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

The Office of the Fire Marshal has arrived at the scene as an investigation into the incident, in conjunction with Halton Police, gets underway.

With files from CTV News Toronto's Beth Macdonell