More than two dozen people homeless after two massive weekend fires
Posted Apr 29, 2012 06:19:28 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA, On – Two fires this weekend have left more than two dozen people homeless. The first occurred Friday afternoon when a 3-alarm blaze gutted an eight unit triplex on Daly Avenue in Sandy Hill between Charlotte Street and Cobourg Street, leaving 17 people without a place to live.
The second fire torched a kitchen in Little Italy Saturday night in an eight unit row house complex at 331 Rochester Street, leaving seven people homeless. It was extinguished in ten minutes, there were no injuries and damage is pegged at $100,000.
When fire crews arrived on scene at 404 Daly Avenue on Friday, heavy flames were spotted coming from the triplex just after 4 p.m.
No residents were injured, but four firefighters suffered minor injuries.
Come Saturday morning debris remained scattered across the sodden front lawn of the old, red-bricked triplex. The roof is a charred and blackened mess and parts have caved in.
You can see where firefighters were chopping and sawing away at siding and support beams to get access to the hot spots.
Damage estimates are $2,000,000 to the building and $250,000 to the contents.
Investigators concluded that a discarded cigarette was the probable cause of the fire.
Marc Messier of Ottawa Fire told 1310News this fire was particularly difficult to put out.
“Because this is an older building, they’ve often undergone a lot of renovations so there’s a lot of false walls, a lot of void spaces, it’s also balloon type construction which basically means is that there’s an open space between the attic right up to the roof so flames travel quite quickly.”
Two dogs and two cats were saved from the building, and two other pets have been recovered. The building will have to be torn down after the roof completely caved in. The 17 residents will have to find somewhere to live.
Local Red Cross and Salvation Army units have been called in to assist the displaced residents.
Daly Avenue was closed between Charlotte and Couburg Streets for several hours Friday and into the early hours of Saturday.
