UPDATED: Ottawa Street Bar Fire Was An Arson

Hello time traveller!!
This article is 3454 days old.
The information listed below is likely outdated and has been preserved for archival purposes.

Last updated: Monday November 10th, 2:42pm

A fire that destroyed a bar on Ottawa Street was an arson, according to investigators.

Police say the blaze was intentionally set and the Windsor Police Arson Unit is actively investigating.

Firefighters responded to Alibi’s Family Grill beside 7-Eleven at Ottawa and Parent around 1:45am Saturday and found smoke billowing out of the building.

Crews located flames in the building’s basement and aggressively fought the fire for over an hour before it spread to the first floor, prompting an evacuation of firefighters to the perimeter of the building.

One firefighter suffered smoke inhalation and was transported to hospital by ambulance with non-life threatening injuries.

He was treated and released.

No one else was injured.

By 3am, firefighters re-entered the structure, punctured holes in the first floor and doused the fire below with several hose lines and a special firefighting tool to fight below-floor fires called a cellar nozzle.

The fire department continued to battle the blaze well past 5am while smoke continued to drift across Ottawa Street.

Around 6am the fire was finally out.

The bar, formerly the Ottawa Tavern, then Scores Sports Bar & Grill, recently opened as Alibi’s according to residents who live above and were forced to evacuate.

Windsor Fire said the building had an art studio in the basement, Alibi’s on the main floor and five residential units on the second floor.

The fire caused extensive damage to the basement and main floor pegged at $400,000.