London police are investigating a suspicious fire at a northeast restaurant that caused $1.5 million damage.
London police are investigating a suspicious fire at a northeast restaurant that caused $1.5 million damage.
Firefighters were called shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday to the Pizza Hut at 1332 Huron St., east of Highbury Avenue, where crews used aerial ladders to douse the blaze, fire officials said. Nobody was injured.
Investigators from the Office of the Fire Marshal remained on the scene Wednesday, but didn’t enter the burned-out building because of safety concerns.
“We’re not going to go into the inside because of the collapse hazard. There’s a fairly substantial weight on the roof because of all the air-handlers up there,” fire marshal investigator Clive Hubbard said from the scene.
“The ceiling and roof structure have been compromised, so until that hazard is removed the building is unsafe to go into.”
The cause of the blaze hasn’t been determined, said Hubbard, who will complete his investigation Wednesday and turn over the scene investigators from the restaurant’s insurance company.
The building will likely have to be demolished, Hubbard said. “It’s pretty badly damaged.”
London police assigned the probe to its street crime unit after investigators ruled the fire to be suspicious. Anyone with information about the fire should call London police at 519-661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
The Pizza Hut is located in a plaza on the corner of the Highbury-Huron intersection that also houses a UPS store, a pharmacy and a check-cashing business. No other businesses were damaged, Hubbard said.
“Fire suppression did its job,” he said.