Police make arrests after 3 overnight fires
Last Updated: Friday, February 6, 2009 | 5:37 PM ET
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
Ottawa firefighters battled three suspicious fires early Friday morning. (CBC)Five people were arrested at a Travelodge Hotel on Carling Avenue Friday, Ottawa police have confirmed.
The arrests come after three suspicious fires ripped through different areas of the city early in the morning. Police, however, have not yet made a link between the arrests and the fires.
They also haven't said whether a sixth person — a man who was taken from the hotel to hospital with serious burns on 90 per cent of his body — is linked to the fires.
Firefighters battled into the early morning Friday to control the three large fires, all of which Ottawa police are calling suspicious.
The first blaze, reported just before midnight, tore through a hair salon and video rental store on Bank Street at Belmont Avenue.
At about 1 a.m., a second fire caused an explosion at an oil change shop near St. Patrick Street and King Edward Avenue. The fire then spread to a Tim Hortons restaurant next door.
The garage was destroyed and the Tim Hortons was heavily damaged.
Total damage from the three fires is estimated at $6.6 million. (CBC)Beginning at about 3 a.m., the most damaging of the three fires tore through five businesses in the Richmond Plaza on Richmond Road, among them a Rockin' Johnny's restaurant and a bicycle shop.
Fire officials have estimated that the last fire caused about $2 million in damage to the building and $3 million to the contents of the businesses.
Total damage from the fires is estimated at $6.6 million.
"With winter, we brought in extra rigs," said Ottawa fire Chief Monty Malloy. "So it did end up going into a four-alarm fire."
Police and the fire marshal's office continue to investigate the fires.
Roads near where the three fires occurred are open.
Share Tools
Latest Ottawa News Headlines
- Canadian woman continues tweeting her way to the top of Everest
- Sandra Leduc is taking a second run at Mount Everest's summit after a deadly storm forced her back down the mountain and killed four others on Sunday. The Canadian lawyer and government worker is tweeting her progress along the way. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Memorial held at Eric Leighton's high school
- A memorial is being held today at Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School where Grade 12 student Eric Leighton was killed in a shop class explosion one year ago. more »
- Birds attack Ottawa joggers
- Women jogging along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa might want to rethink that ponytail. It seems to be making them a target for blackbirds nesting in the area. more »
Top News Headlines
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest

- The difficulty, danger and expense of removing the bodies of climbers who died in Mount Everest's "death zone" mean most of the dead remain on the mountain as a stark reminder to other climbers of the risks. more »
- Canada closing consulate in Buffalo, N.Y.
- The federal government is shutting down the Canadian consulate in Buffalo and dropping a requirement for foreign workers and students to renew their visas outside the country, CBC News has learned. more »
- G20 police illegally arrested journalists, used gay slur
- Two Toronto police sergeants face disciplinary hearings after a watchdog agency found they illegally arrested two journalists during the G20 summit and that one officer hurled homophobic slurs. more »
Most Viewed/Commented
- New mom among dead in Aylmer triple stabbing
- Gatineau police to question suspect in multiple homicides
- Birds attack Ottawa joggers
- Woman pinned between forklifts in Ottawa warehouse
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Ottawa race weekend road closures
- Double-lung recipient Hélène Campbell dances for joy
- Victim named in Queensway rollover crash
- G20 police illegally arrested journalists, used gay slur

