Barbershop fire under investigation for arson

Ottawa police opened an arson case following a fire over the August long weekend at a barbershop in downtown.

It happened around 11:30 p.m. in the 400 block of Rideau Street. A commercial space of a residential building had caught fire causing “significant” damage, a police press release reads.

Firefighters were on scene within two minutes after multiple callers reported that there was smoke and flames coming from the shop. Crews went through the back of the storefront and were met with heavy smoke and flames.

They were able to quickly extinguish the blaze by 11:37 p.m., but not before four of the five barbershop chairs were consumed. Nick DeFazio, media relations officer with Ottawa fire, told CityNews that officials reported “mass loss” of the shop.

Teams were able to prevent the flames from spreading to other businesses nearby and to the residential units above.

From there, firefighters called Ottawa police. A preliminary investigation led officers to deem the blaze suspicious in nature.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Arson and Explosion Unit at 613-236-1222, extension 2202 or by email at arson@ottawapolice.ca.