Sarnia Fire and Rescue Service is reinforcing its fire safety messaging after resources were stretched thin Friday afternoon.
All five Sarnia stations were needed to respond to three calls between 2:30pm and 3:15pm.
A medical distress call required firefighters to force their way through an apartment door that was secured by a bar.
Extrication was needed at a two-vehicle crash at Russell St. and Wellington St. involving four people. Injuries were minor.
While all that was happening, firefighters were called to a house filled with smoke on Notre Dame Pl. that was caused by unattended cooking. A neighbour heard a smoke alarm sounding and alerted firefighters who arrived to find no one in the home.
Fire officials are again stressing the importance of working smoke alarms, and remind residents that unattended or unsafe cooking is the number one cause of house fires.
They add fatal fires in Ontario are up 42% so far this year.
