Richmond church fire contained following creative fighting efforts

Firefighters with Ottawa Fire Services (OFS) successfully put out a fire contained to the steeple of a church southwest of Ottawa.

At about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday night, firefighters were called to a church that caught fire located in the 100 block of Burke Street in Richmond.

Within three minutes of being dispatched, firefighters arrived on the scene and acted quickly.

The church is located in a part of the city with no fire hydrants, so crews began attacking the fire with handlines from outside of the building.

Tanker trucks were also used to shuttle water from a nearby water source to the scene, according to officials.

There was a risk of the steeple collapsing which created a further danger for crews. Trucks were repositioned so firefighters could attack the blaze from a safer vantage point.

The tin roof had to be opened up to expose the interior supports of the steeple as they were heavily burned.

After nearly two hours of battling the blaze, it was declared under control shortly after 11 p.m. Nobody was inside the church at the time and no injuries were reported.

Salvage operations were performed with tarps in an effort to protect the church from water damage.

An OFS investigator was dispatched to the scene to determine the cause of the fire.