Crews from the St. Thomas Fire Department responded to a fire at a home in the Barwick Street area just before 5:30 a.m. Monday, July 27. One resident was taken to St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital with minor injuries, and firefighters kept the damage to a single room. The department says the fire is under investigation but is not considered suspicious.
The department also said this is its busiest start to a year on record, with call volume up 19 percent over the same time last year. “We appreciate our staff, and their dedication to maintaining the same level of service, even with the demands of an increased number of incidents,” the department wrote.
The department didn’t say what’s behind the jump in calls. It did use the moment to pass along a simple reminder: test your smoke alarms. Working alarms, it says, are the early warning that gives you and your family the time you need to safely get out of the house if a fire starts.
Sources: St. Thomas Fire Department Facebook post, July 27, 2026
By Anthony Zruna · About the LocVox Newsroom
