‘A wall of fire': North Hamilton home deemed a total loss after Victoria Day blaze

Hamilton Spectator

19-05-2025

By the time a couchbound Art Scullion noticed smoke drifting past his back door, the kitchen was already on fire.
'Thirty or more seconds and I wouldn't have made it out,' Scullion said, sitting on a patch of grass across from his top-floor apartment at 364 Hughson St. N, which was razed in a fire Monday afternoon. 'It's just took over. I've never seen a house go up in flames like that.'
Scullion and other tenants of the multi-unit north-end home managed to make it out unscathed from the Victoria Day blaze that caved in a roof, shattered windows and billowed smoke visible for blocks.
Art Scullion sits on the grass across from his multi-unit home that was razed in a fire Monday afternoon. As he spoke to The Spectator, a man came by and gave him a bag of shirts, socks and and a pair of Crocs.
At its peak just after 1 p.m., eight fire trucks were posted at Hughson and Simcoe streets, batting a well-involved structure fire platoon chief Dean Morrow said began in the rear of the home.
Morrow said the blaze quickly extended into the attic area before it broke through the roof, forcing crews to douse it from overhead with aerial ladders.
'It spread quickly,' Morrow said. 'We weren't able to get at all areas of the multiple apartments inside before it spread through the entire attic.'
Firefighters remained on scene as of 3:30 p.m., extinguishing hotspots and waiting for more parts of the roof to collapse.
The persistent blaze drew dozens of curious onlookers who crowded around the home some neighbours said is known locally as 'The Castle' due to its size and a wraparound L-like shape.
Firefighters battle a blaze in a multi-unit home at the corner of Simcoe Street East and Hughson Street North.
'I was in the basement and my sister was sewing next to the window, and she all of a sudden yelled 'Smoke! The Castle is on fire,' said longtime resident Silvine Mesquita, who lived across the street. 'She woke my husband up.'
Shirley Slater, a next-door neighbour to the affected home, knew something was amiss when her cat was staring at the window.
'Then I heard pops and crack and bangs, sounds you don't usually hear,' the 79-year-old said. 'I looked out the back door and there was a wall of fire.'
Others spotted evidence of the blaze from blocks away.
'We could see the thick black smoke from under the York Street Bridge,' said Dinka Derewczymski, who was out for an afternoon bike ride with his kids. 'They wanted to check it out so we followed the smoke.'
Morrow deemed the home 'a total loss' and said the fire caused 'well over' $1 million.
As the roof continued burning, tenants of the home watched on in shock, sitting on the lawn of Bennetto Elementary School as concerned neighbours came around to offer support.
'I've got all my medications in there,' Scullion told The Spectator when asked what he left behind, just as a man came up to him with a bag that contained shirts, socks and a pair of Crocs.
'There's more if you need,' the man told him.
Red Cross has been contacted to assist displaced tenants, Morrow said, adding an HSR bus would also be at the scene.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.