Damage from ByWard Market restaurant fire pegged at $2M
Andrew Duffy, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: April 12, 2019
Water poured down the front steps of Vittoria Trattoria restaurant late Friday in the devastating aftermath of a four-alarm fire that gutted the historic building in the ByWard Market.
Two fire investigators were on scene to determine the cause of the blaze, which is believed to have started in the roof area of the century-old, two-storey stone building.
Roofers were doing work on the building when the fire broke out Friday morning, according to Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, who expressed immense relief that the blaze didn’t claim more of the city’s heritage district.
“The fear I had when I was watching this from City Hall was that it would spread so quickly because these old buildings are filled with a lot of wood,” Watson told reporters as he toured the scene Friday afternoon.
“We’re very grateful that no one was injured. The fire department did an amazing job.”
Damage was estimated at more than $2 million to the William Street restaurant — opened in 1996, Vittoria Trattoria had more than 800 labels in its wine cellar — and to neighbouring buildings to the south.
Dozens of shops were forced to close, including those in ByWard Market Square across the street, while more than 100 firefighters battled to bring the fire under control.
At its height, in early afternoon, the fire blanketed the market with dark smoke and brought hundreds of spectators to the scene in one of Ottawa’s oldest neighbourhoods.
Ottawa Fire Services had received a flood of 911 calls about smoke and flame coming from a building at 35 William St., just south of York Street, starting at 11:18 a.m.
Three minutes after the first crews arrived — three pumpers and two ladder trucks — they declared a two-alarm fire, which brought still more crews.
Initially, firefighters sought to control the spread of the blaze from Vittoria Trattoria with an aggressive attack with crews inside and on the building’s roof.
Firefighters on the roof made a “trench cut” — a long narrow ventilation hole cut with saws — in an attempt to isolate the fire from neighbouring buildings, while interior crews sought to suppress the blaze.
However, the fire was firmly established in the building’s cockloft: the small attic space created by its shallow, angled roof.
At 11:47 a.m., the incident commander, District Chief Michael Byron, ordered all fire crews to evacuate the building when he recognized signs of an imminent roof collapse.
“That’s when the operations shifted from an offensive attack to a defensive attack,” Ottawa Fire Services spokeswoman Danielle Cardinal said.
At that point, fire crews worked to douse the blaze from the street and from ladders. The building’s roof soon collapsed.
A third-alarm was declared at 11:56 a.m. At 1:06 p.m., a rare fourth alarm was issued to bring still more resources to the fire scene.
At one point, four ladder trucks were working on the fire with a fifth ladder truck on standby in case one of the others ran into mechanical difficulties.
During the height of the action, Ottawa Fire Services had 30 rigs and more than 100 firefighters engaged in the battle.
At times, fire crews would stop spraying water to allow masked firefighters time to enter the building and identify hot spots before resuming their suppression efforts.
Cardinal said the operation was complicated by the age of the building — the roof had several layers, which allowed the fire to spread — and its proximity to adjacent buildings.
The fire was declared under control at 2:57 p.m.
“I’m very proud of Ottawa firefighters who worked swiftly and diligently,” Ottawa Fire Chief Kim Ayotte said.
The building immediately north of the restaurant, including Vineyards Wine Bar Bistro and The Fish Market, is separated from Vittoria Trattoria by a narrow alley. That alleyway likely saved those restaurants from serious damage.
Two buildings to the south of Vittoria Trattoria — a vape shop and an empty building now for rent — had extensive fire, smoke and water damage.
Two other businesses further south on William Street also had smoke damage that was to be further assessed on Saturday.
Late Friday, two fire crews were extinguishing hotspots at the scene. A fire watch was to be posted all night in case the blaze rekindled.
Blue tarpaulins covered two cars parked on William Street in front of Vittoria Trattoria, which had water pouring from its front doors. All three of its second-storey windows were shattered. Much of its roof was gone, and blackened roofing materials littered the neighbourhood.
George Street and York Street reopened Friday night, but it was expected that William Street would remain closed into Saturday morning.
The fire investigators — one each from the Ottawa Fire Service and the Office of the Fire Marshall — were to return Saturday to continue their probe into what triggered the blaze.
With files from Postmedia staff
What is a four-alarm fire?
Ottawa’s multiple-alarm fire system allows an incident commander to get the resources needed to a fire scene quickly.
Four-alarm fires, like the one declared Friday in the ByWard Market, are rare.
A “working” fire is considered a one-alarm fire and it will bring to the scene four pumpers, another for “accountability” — tracking where every firefighter goes — two ladder companies and a rapid intervention team to rescue anyone who gets into trouble.
A second alarm brings two more pumpers and an additional ladder company.
Each additional rise in the alarm level brings more fire service resources to control a blaze.
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/fire-at-byward-market-restaurant-no-injuries-reported
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