The father of a Meaford woman is struggling to cope with the tragic death his daughter after a fire in a basement apartment.
Fenton Crowell fights back tears just hours after losing his daughter in the fire.
“Oh she's a good kid, good kid, happy kid. You know, happy-go-lucky, loved being around her friends and stuff. Always come over. She loved cats, you know, she come over and played with them all the time.”
18-year-old Mercedi Crowell was in the basement suite of the Meaford home when a fire broke out Thursday night.
“A friend that lives next door here, a friend of the family, he called and was like, ‘wow’, I didn't believe it at first until I got down here and smelt the smoke, the smoke and I was like, oh boy,” said the devastated Dad.
Police say Mercedi Crowell was airlifted to hospital in Toronto but later died.
Neighbours tells CTV News there are two units in the home.
Crowell lived in the basement with a girlfriend and her friend’s children.
Another family lives upstairs.
Mike Ross is with the Fire Marshal’s office.
He says they still don't know the cause of the fire but he thinks he knows where the fire may have started.
“We can confirm the floor-fire origin is from within the basement,” said Ross. “We are still in the process of digging the scene out and searching through the evidence for the cause of the fire.”
The OFM says there are smoke alarms in the building.
“There are some smoke alarms in the house,” said Ross. “As to whether they were functioning at this point we do have some witness information that there was something enunciating but we don't know if that's from the basement or from the ground floor.”
Investigators are sifting through everything - from the inside to the broken windows.
Crowell’s father spent about 20 minutes outside his daughter’s home today.
The Fire Marshal's office says the structural integrity of the main floor has been compromised by the fire and they don't expect anyone to be allowed back in the home anytime soon.
