A century-old building in downtown London, home to “The Spot” restaurant and several apartments, has been badly damaged by fire.
Crews were called out to 206 Central Ave around 9:30 p.m. Sunday night after a police officer in the area noticed flames coming from a basement window on the building’s west side.
People living in upper floor units were safely evacuated, but all three levels of the structure sustained heavy fire and smoke damage.
Platoon Chief Syd Gatenby says the blaze took considerable effort to extinguish.
“London Fire advanced hose lines into heavy smoke and fire conditions in the basement. It appeared it was extinguished however it traveled up the outside wall in the framing of the century old house it was located in and subsequently up to the attic area three storey’s up.”
There were no injuries, but damage is estimated at almost half a million dollars. There was $350,000 worth of damage to the building and $100,000 worth of damage to the contents inside.
Investigators believe the fire started in the basement and Gatenby says the cause doesn’t appear to be suspicious.
“Suspected cause is believed to be the pipes had frozen in the last couple of days in the basement and they had applied some heat to the water pipes. Subsequently the heat ignited the wood or combustible materials around the water pipes.”
The London Fire Department Prevention Division will investigate the blaze before an official ruling is made on the fire.
One person was displaced from one of the upper floor units but officials say no one was injured.
