Major fire at wooden apartment building construction site

Firefighters were busy in Bells Corners Tuesday morning, with an under-construction, five-storey apartment complex fully ablaze when crews arrived.

A video posted to social media by the city's fire service shows aerial ladders surrounding the raging flames, with torrents of water being sprayed as plumes of smoke pour out of the unoccupied building. 

And even hours after the flames were beat back, mountains of white smoke could be seen rising from the rubble. 

On its website, calls it a "51-unit purpose-built rental complex" featuring wood-frame construction. Construction broke ground on the site on the corner of Northside Road and Thorncliff Place in June 2023.

In a written statement, Rohit, said it was notified of the fire early Tuesday morning and is supporting authorities.

"We are thankful that Ottawa Fire and Emergency Services were quick to respond," the company wrote. "At this time, we are unaware of the origin or cause of the fire and trust that we will learn more through the investigation."

It said it wouldn't be making further comment at this time.

The current maximum height in Ontario for these stick-frame construction complexes — often championed for their environmental advantages — is six storeys.

In February, the City of Ottawa told CBC News that more robust wood-based materials, such as gypsum-protected cross-laminated timber, can be used to build even taller structures — but the city hadn't seen a large uptake in those higher "encapsulated mass timber projects."  

According to the city's fire service, it first received a call from a monitoring company around 4:38 a.m. 

Arriving soon after, firefighters found heavy winds and shooting embers posed a high risk of the fire spreading to nearby buildings. 

"It was a wood frame," said Ottawa fire spokesperson Nick DeFazio. "It's essentially like building a big camp fire. They go up quick … and it spread extremely fast."

With the building still under construction, it meant that safety features like fire walls hadn't been incorporated yet, DeFazio said.

A second alarm was soon declared, with firefighters fearing the burning building would collapse.

Finally, just before 5 a.m., a third alarm was declared, with a focus placed on protecting two nearby structures: Emmanuel Alliance Church and the Davidson Hearing Aid Centre.

Firefighters evacuated occupants from the latter, with the burning apartment building just across the street collapsing around 5:45 a.m.

A small one-storey structure behind the apartment did catch fire, but firefighters were able to protect the others. 

Carbon monoxide checks are being made at nearby buildings.

No injuries have been reported.