And while the report of two children shot was the biggest news event on a very full news day – up to this morning, the biggest news of the day was a fire in the heart of the city. It happened on Queen Street and it caused a major scare in the downtown areas as well as a major traffic headache – because North Front Street was closed with the city council protest while Queen Street was closed with the fire. Jacqueline Godwin was on the scene.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
This was the scene at number six Queen Street when 7News arrived at the location. Something clearly was burning inside the upper portion of the two storey concrete structure owned by Roberto Chee. White smoke could be seen streaming from the rear to the front of the upstairs building. According to National Fire Service Training Officer and fire fighter Kenneth Mortis, they had to first overcome some challenges before locating the source of the blaze.
Kenneth Mortis, Training Officer - National Fire Service
“This morning our team had to do partial forcible entry along with the owner of the store Mr. Chee, he had keys to some of the doors that he could have actually opened for us. The fire was located at the rear of the two storey building where a storeroom was located at. This particular room had all sorts of stuff from bicycle parts to just about whatever you can think about. It created some hazards for us in the sense that the shelves that housed these items were made of wood and these wooden shelves collapsed and kind of blocked our way from getting towards where the fire was located at.”
As smoke filled the skies above the building, as a precautionary measure, employees from adjoining buildings were evacuated including students from Holy Redeemer
Primary School although they were not directly affected.
Kenneth Mortis,
“As it is in most fires, people, whether it is business or domestic, they tend to take as precaution as they possibly could. Seeing the congestion of downtown Queen Street that was one of their primary concerns; locking up their stores and evacuating the school as you mentioned. Lucky for us and the community, the building was a concrete building and our only fear was actually having this fire probably consume the remainder of the building but looking at it, for it to have jumped on another building per se, the chances were there but the team did a good job in terms of confining this fire before further structural damage could have been done.”
The buildings’ owner Roberto Chee declined to be interviewed and it is still not certain what started the fire.
Jacqueline Godwin,
“What is Mr. Roberto Chee saying at this time?”
Kenneth Mortis,
“Right Jackie I am not able to say what exactly he is saying. We have
our team at the scene still conducting an investigation as to exactly how or where this fire started. So I am hoping that sometime before the day is over we can have something concrete as to how the fire started exactly, what caused it.”
Fortunately the fire fighters managed to stop the flames from spreading and most of the damage was confined to a residential area and storeroom situated on the second floor of the building.
Kenneth Mortis,
“As it is right now the entire portion that houses Mr. Chee’s storeroom is damaged by the fire. The remainder of the upper portion is heavily damaged by water and some heat.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
“That’s the residential area?”
Kenneth Mortis,
“That’s the residential area. I haven’t been able to have a look at the downstairs but I am almost sure I can say that the downstairs area also suffered heavy water damage.”
It took fire fighters about 45 minutes to bring the situation under control. Reporting for 7News, Jacqueline Godwin.
No one was injured and up to news time the National Fire Service had not yet determined what started the fire. Investigators are expected to return to the scene on Tuesday.
