OTTAWA'S BIG FIRE
Item
- Title
- OTTAWA'S BIG FIRE
- Date
- 5/11/03
- page
- 2
- Identifier
- https://lccn.loc.gov/sn84020125
- Crime
- Arson
- Subject
- Arson; Serial Arson
- Race of alleged offender
- White alleged offenders
- Gender of alleged offender
- Male alleged offender
- Stage of the Legal System
- Arrested
- Location
- International, Ottawa Canada
- Length of story
- 377
- Description
-
OTTAWA'S BIG FIRE
Blaze Believed to Have Been of Incendiary OriginóTwo thousand Are Homeless.
Ottawa, Ont, May 11.óA fire, suspected of being of incendiary origin, destroyed hundreds of bouses and millions of feet of lumber in this city. John White, who had just been released from the penitentiary after serving a term of Imprisonment for
arson, was caught near where the fire was first discovered.
Two hours before the main fire started, two smaller fires were started and quickly extinguished in the lumber yards near the Canadian Pacific railway. When the fire brigade arrived at the third it was found that the water main had been damaged and
no water could be obtained. When the brigade did get water the fire was utterly beyond its control. It swept along over the same ground that the Hull fire of 1897 had gone, the only difference being that it was going In the opposito direction. There is a large cuff, which extends from the Ottawa river to the corner of Margaret and Preston streets. The fire area was on the flats below the cliff. At two or three points it came very near getting over the cliff, and had it done so nothing would have saved the city.
The fire is under control and was confined to the following area: The Ottawa and Parry Sound railroad on the south, Division Street on the east, First avenue on the west and the Richmond railroad on the north. From tho Parry Sound road to the Richmond road is about one mile and from First avenue to Division street is about one-quarter of a mile. While the fire was burning fiercely among
the lumber piles the whole brigade of the city, which had been summoned, was forced to remain idle. Fifteen million feet of lumber were destroyed. The loss on the lumber will be about $300,000. The buildings burned were principally dwelling houses and stores. The loss on buildings is estimated at various amounts. Mayor Cook said there were from 500 to 600 families homeless, or about 2,000 individuals. The mayor said the city would oppose any aid being asked from, outside Canada and personally he thought that the city should grapple with the situation without any ap
peal for outside help.
