Crews quickly halted structure fire in ByWard Market

Visible smoke was reported to emergency responders on Friday morning in a portion of Ottawa’s ByWard Market.

Police and firefighters were sent to the scene at 9:47 a.m. after a monitoring company alerted alarms at the Lone Star Texas Grill at 128 George St. More people called 911 reporting the incident.

Crews told the public just after 10:00 a.m. that Dalhousie Street, between Rideau and George streets, were closed because of a fire.

Firefighters arrived within minutes and were told by people outside that they had evacuated the three-storey building, which houses the restaurant and office spaces above.

Bringing a hose into the structure, crews quickly found flames in the kitchen. They were coming from a large commercial stove and were spreading into the ventilation system.

The first team used a CO2 extinguisher, which didn’t douse the flames. A hose line was then brought in, allowing for full suppression of the fire while another team went on a ladder above the building to bring the blaze under control in the ventilation system.

Another team was searching the building, as a report indicated to firefighters that someone could be in a stairwell inside. After two searches crews did not find anyone.

Holes were cut into the ventilation in the kitchen to make sure there were no more flames. The fire was under control by 10:16 a.m.

“Air quality was monitored and confirmed safe prior to allowing office workers to re-enter. A Health Inspector attended the scene, which is standard procedure following a commercial kitchen fire,” fire crews said in a press release.