Cause under investigation after fire rips through vacant south London building
London firefighters are investigating the cause of a massive blaze in a vacant factory building at 10 Centre St., just off of Wharncliffe Road South.
It was eventually brought under control late Tuesday night.
The smoke was so thick and heavy that the city sent has sent out a warning to anyone within one kilometre of the site to keep their doors and windows shut.
“You’ll notice that the smoke is yellow, brown, black, all different colours, so there’s a lot of different things that are burning inside the building,” said Platoon Chief Gary Mosburger. “That kind of smoke produces heavy levels of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, cyanide, things that people should not be breathing in. So we’ve asked people to protect in place, shut off their hvac systems, close their windows, and stay indoors.”
Crews were called to the fire just over the supper hour Tuesday. It roared through the evening with crews working in shifts to knock it down.
“We’re in a defensive strategy fighting the fire from the exterior,” said Mosburger. “The fire itself, it’s just way too dangerous to send firefighters in the interior to a building that we already are aware of that was vacant.”
No one was injured.
Neighbour Warren Martin tells CTV News London individuals are often spotted coming in and out of the building. “Abandoned building and usually there’s a lot of homeless people that live in there. Old mattresses and stuff dragged in and all that.”
The vacant building has been on the city’s radar for some time. Earlier this year it appeared on a list of sites recommended for demolition by city staff.
“Well sometimes you think a lot of these things should be torn down and not just left if it’s a fire trap,” said neigbour Dave Robinson as he watched firefighers work to keep the fire under control.
It had originally been home to Hubson Transport in the 70s but more recently housed a moving company, karate school and renovation company.
The shell of the building was torn down Wednesday, but the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
- With files from CTV News London's Nick Paparella
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.