4-alarm fire breaks out at Hamilton YMCA; 11 hurt, 173 displaced [Video]

Eleven people were taken to the hospital and another 173 have been displaced after a large fire broke out at a YMCA men’s residence in Hamilton early Monday afternoon.

Hamilton Fire Department (HFD) said they were dispatched to the Hamilton Downtown Family YMCA at 79 James St. S., between Hunter and Jackson streets, at about 12:22 p.m. after receiving a report of “alarm conditions.”

“As crews entered into the building to investigate, they found smoke on the second floor and immediately upgraded the alarm to a multiple alarm fire, bring additional resources from across the City to the scene. It was then determined that the fire was on the third floor with heavy smoke conditions on the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors,” Fire Chief Dave Cunliffe said in a news release.

Due to those conditions, the fire, which he indicated was contained to a third-floor unit that sustained significant fire …