RESTAURANT IN RUINS
Wendy’s restaurant at the Lincoln Fields mall smoulders hours after fire tore through it early Tuesday. Police say a 28-year-old employee faces several arson charges.
A 28-year-old man has been charged with arson endangering life in connection with an early-morning fire that destroyed the Wendy’s restaurant at Lincoln Fields Tuesday and sent several people to the hospital with smoke inhalation.
The Ottawa police arson unit has also charged Steven Hanssen with arson causing property damage and two counts of breaching conditions of release.
Lead investigator Det. Martin Cardinal said five people, including Hanssen, were present when the fire broke out shortly after midnight.
All five people were employees of the restaurant, which had closed for the night.
Hanssen was arrested at the scene after officers gathered witness statements. He was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday afternoon.
More than a dozen fire trucks were sent to fight the fire, which appeared to originate in the kitchen at the rear of the restaurant. Paramedics said several people were assessed for minor injuries at the scene, two were taken to hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
A second alarm was declared and two aerial ladders poured water on the restaurant from above, but firefighters couldn’t stop the flames, which were soon shooting through the roof.
Damage to the building, which was still smoking late Tuesday afternoon, is estimated at more than $1 million.
As staff, some of them in tears, huddled in the cold rain Tuesday, firefighters used axes and pikes to smash the windows on the restaurant’s Carling Avenue side while a thick column of black smoke rose and drifted to the west.
Firefighters were still on the scene putting out “hot spots” in the fire just before 8 a.m. Tuesday after wrapping up a main defensive attack at 3:18 a.m.
The site was still smouldering Tuesday afternoon, and firefighters were still pouring water into the building, which was almost levelled.
Cardinal will not be able to say where the fire started until investigators can enter the building.
“We haven’t set foot in the place. We won’t even be able to get into the building until tomorrow.”
The provincial fire marshal is investigating, as is the case with all fires with over $500,000 in damage.