The London fire department received a call around 7:30am Monday after a fire broke out at 122 Wortley Road.
A London fire department vehicle in the parking lot at 122 Wortley Road (XFM News)
The address houses a mid-rise apartment building that saw residents start their day with an evacuation.
The blaze burned between the first and second floors of the building proving to be a unique challenge for responding crews.
Gary Mosburger, a platoon chief with the London fire department, says the building’s construction proved to be a challenge when it came to getting to the fire due to a layer of concrete poured over top of the wooden I-beams in the floor.
While the fire was put out rather quickly, it did have some impact on the building due to its location. Mosburger says, “There was some water migration throughout the ceiling area where we had to put the fire out. And we did a really good job of trying to mitigate it and keep it to only a couple of units.”
The water migration also forced the crews to think on their feet, as Mosburger says, “What we were doing was we actually pulled a toilet off the floor and started to move the water towards the pipe just to allow for natural evacuation of that water.”
Water on the balcony outside a unit at 122 Wortley road (XFM News)
Mosburger told XFM that an electrical issue was the cause of the fire and that while they can’t exactly pinpoint how it started, they noted some newer low-voltage wiring in the building.
The building has now been handed back to the property owner, who will be responsible for the building’s cleanup.
While paramedics were on scene with fire crews, no injuries were reported.
The fire was just a few buildings down from the Black Walnut Café, which also experienced a fire back in April 2023 that was later ruled arson.
