CREDIT: FRANCIS SIEBERT
The London Fire Department responded to a call about a fire at an apartment building across from Fanshawe's T-building.

One person is dead and another injured after a fire broke out in a non-student apartment building across the street from Fanshawe College’s T-Building that resulted in the closure of Oxford Street between First Street and Highbury Avenue and caused public transit delay on the morning of November 3.

The building is housed by people with disabilities, addictions and mental illness. They were transported to the Salvation Army’s Centre of Hope.

“I think [the London Police Service and London Fire Department have] done a really good job containing [the fire],” Ward 3 councillor elect Mohamed Salih said.

Robert Earle, the manager of Fanshawe’s emergency management office, says students should make sure they have a working smoke detector in their residence.

He says cooking tends to be the most common cause of fire – students should monitor their cooking and take precautions when making food. Students should also be aware of how to smother a cooking fire and have a fire extinguisher in their kitchen.

Other fire hazards include burning candles and electric lamps being too close to fabrics such as window blinds.

Back in July, Fanshawe student Nkinyam Ngoh was seriously injured in a townhouse fire.