5 p.m. Update:
Investigators with the Ontario Fire Marshal have determined that the fire started in the kitchen. Cause is still being investigated.
It may be tomorrow before the investigation is completed at the scene.
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Original story 9 a.m.:
Barrie firefighters spent several hours Sunday morning battling a blaze at a large, downtown century home.
Emergency crews were called to the fire at 87 Owen Street between Sophia and McDonald Streets around 5:45 a.m.
County of Simcoe Paramedics were standing by and Barrie Police were on scene speaking to witnesses and blocking off the roads.
"It looks like the home will be a total building loss. It was a multi-tenants, boarding, lodging and rooming house. Four or five people were home at the time of the fire," said Barrie Fire Media Officer Samantha Hoffmann.
The tenants all managed to escape to safety and stood on the sidewalk across the street watching their home burn.
"Six tenants have been displaced," Hoffmann said. "One reports being woken up by a smoke alarm."
No firefighters were injured and the cause and origin of the fire are not yet known.
Hoffmann says investigators from both Barrie Fire and the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal have been called in to investigate due to the high dollar loss, estimated over $500,000.
The intense heat from the blaze scorched a car in the driveway and melted the siding on next-door-neighbour Don's house.
"I was awakened by someone banging on my door around 5:30 or so," he said.
And as for the damage to his home he added, "I think I've got a lot of work ahead of me getting it fixed. The heat broke a window on the side of my house."
Thick smoke billowed from the structure and covered the city in the early hours.
Barrie Fire had 6 appparatus and a Platoon Chief on scene.
It's the second blaze at the rooming house in five months.
On June, 7, crews responded to a furniture fire at the abode.
