Crews rescue person from burning basement; tackle restaurant fire in east

Posted Mar 4, 2025 12:28:45 PM.
Last Updated Mar 4, 2025 12:28:56 PM.
Firefighters rescued one person from the basement of a home in South Keys, and later tackled a blaze in a restaurant in Ottawa’s east end on March 3.
The first fire started at 3:47 p.m. when crews got a 911 call from the resident of a home in the 1200 block of St. Paul Avenue, who said there was smoke coming from the basement. According to firefighters, the resident was pulling into their driveway when they saw smoking coming from the unit where a tenant lives.
Crews arrived in four minutes and saw the smoke. One team searched the basement and found a person, bringing them outside to be treated with oxygen and for injuries.
A separate team went inside and found flames in the bedroom of the basement unit and extinguished them by 4:03 p.m. Fans were needed to ventilate smoke out of the building but the residents of the home will be displaced.
A few hours later, at 10:30 p.m., crews were called to Ottawa’s east end for a commercial fire.
“Dark grey smoke” was coming from the roof of the restaurant in the 1500 block of St. Laurent Boulevard, firefighters confirmed. Bringing a hose inside the building, crews said there was high heat and almost no visibility. A team started searching for people and declared the blaze under control by 11:20 p.m.
No people were found. Fans were used to waft the smoke out of the building and a truck remained on scene to watch for any flare ups.
