Two adults and two children are dead after a house fire in Oshawa on Monday morning.
The call to the multi-resident dwelling at Colborne St. W. and Centre St. N. came in at just after 8 a.m. during the height of a snowstorm.
Oshawa Fire Chief Derrick Clark confirmed a young boy and girl and an adult male and female died.
He couldn’t provide ages or the cause of death, or how and if they were related.
As many as 11 people lived in the residence and three were transported to hospital, he said.
“We received multiple calls for a fire … We used multiple apparatus because of the heavy smoke and fire conditions,” Clark said.
“We made our way to the upper level of the house (where the fire was concentrated) and at one point we had to evacuate the building and went back again with a defensive attack.”
Clarke said it was too soon to give the cause of the fire or say if the building had working smoke detectors.
There will also be an investigation to see if the residence was a legal rooming house.
Oshawa Mayor John Henry said this is one of the worst fire events in the city’s history.
“Our deepest sympathies and thoughts and prayers are with the families,” Henry said.