A weekend fire at an apartment building on Portelance Avenue in Hawkesbury late on Saturday, November 29 is being investigated as an arson.
According to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), at 11:55 p.m. on Saturday night, Hawkesbury OPP, Hawkesbury Fire Department, and United Counties of Prescott and Russell Paramedic Services responded to reports of a structure fire.
Residents were evacuated from the building and transported to a warming centre, where assistance was provided by Red Cross and Victim Services Prescott-Russell. Three individuals were transported to hospital and treated for minor injuries.
The fire was extinguished but is considered suspicious and being investigated as arson.
OPP is asking anyone who may have information or video footage related to this incident to contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122, or report anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at ontariocrimestoppers.ca.
Assistance was provided from firefighters in L’Orignal, East Hawkesbury, Grenville, and Brownsburg-Chatham. Vankleek Hill firefighters covered other calls for Hawkesbury during the response to the apartment building fire.
The apartment building contains public housing owned and operated by the United Counties of Prescott and Russell (UCPR).
On Sunday afternoon, the UCPR announced that 30 units were affected by the fire, and the tenants had received assistance over the past several hours. Some were inconvenienced by the smoke, but no serious injuries have been reported, and all residents were safe as of Sunday afternoon.
“We offer our full support to those affected by this fire. Our teams, in collaboration with the Red Cross, have done exceptional work on site to support and relocate the tenants,” said UCPR Warden Yves Laviolette. “We also wish to acknowledge the outstanding work of the firefighters and emergency services.”
“At this time, we do not have any further information regarding the circumstances of this event,” said Sylvie Millette, Director of Social Services for the UCPR. “We will let the investigation run its course and continue to support the authorities, as well as provide assistance to the tenants of the building.”
