Firefighters battle difficult blaze for more than 6 hours in Ottawa

Flames scorched a single-family home for more than six hours near the Ottawa International Airport on Thursday afternoon.

At around 2:39 p.m. a resident reported seeing smoke and fire coming from the roof of a home in the 300 block of River Road just off Limebank Road in the city’s south end.

When firefighters arrived they saw flames coming from the roof. They were able to get to the second floor of the home with a hose to start attacking the fire. This portion of the city does not have hydrants, so crews set up a shuttle water system from a nearby source.

By this time the fire had spread throughout the inside of the walls, floors and attic of the home. Officials set up multiple ladders to tackle the flames from above.

Firefighters searched the home for people and found none.

Over two hours after getting on scene and dousing the flames, the roof collapsed on three firefighters, who were able to escape. After being assessed with Ottawa paramedics the three crew members continued tackling the house fire.

There was only one person in the house at the time of the fire and they were able to leave with all the family’s pets.

The fire was declared under control by 10:15 p.m.

A fire investigator was dispatched to determine how this blaze begun.