All of the occupants of a Balsam Street residence were safely able to evacuate following a late afternoon fire.
Fire crews responded to an emergency call at a home between Huron Avenue and Weaver Avenue at approximately 5:45 p.m. where smoke was visibly billowing outside the two-storey residence.
Paramedics on scene reported that two small children between the ages of 3 to 5-years-old were being taken to Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre for smoke inhalation and have been released.
A resident said there were five people inside the home when the fire broke out, and added there were flames in the kitchen.
One of the people present was sleeping in an upper-floor bedroom and woke up to screaming and pitch black smoke before crawling down the stairs and running out of the building.
A media release from Thunder Bay Fire Service said the fire was quickly extinguished, which halted any further damage and that the cause is under investigation.
