A 61-year-old woman has died as a result of a fire that broke out at a downtown women’s shelter late Sunday night.
The woman was pulled from the fire but pronounced dead on the scene. She cannot be identified until her next of kin is notified.
“We are deeply saddened,” said Bill Prentice, director of parish and diocesan services at the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, speaking on behalf of shelter staff and ministry members.
“We immediately put our emergency plan into place,” he said.
Residents were removed from the building with firefighters and emergency services on scene.
Thirty-three firefighters responded to the blaze, which Prentice said broke out around 10 p.m.
The shelter is a Cornerstone facility located at 515 MacLaren St. It offers supportive housing for previously homeless women in Ottawa.
“We have no information about how the fire started but we’re co-operating with the investigators to find out,” said Prentice.
The community at the shelter is very tightly knit and the loss of one of the tenants is hitting everybody very hard, he said.
“Today has been very hectic but the residents are OK otherwise. They were taken to a safe location last night,” said Prentice.
They should be moved to a more stable environment by the end of the week, he said.
“As soon as the building is released back to us we are going to make a plan to get the women who live there back into their home,” said Prentice. “It’s our first priority.”
The building is currently closed off for investigation.
A report will be released later today, said Const. Alain Boucher of the Ottawa Police.
Cornerstone celebrated its 25th anniversary last month. The MacLaren residence housed 20 women.
Prentice asked that anyone who wants to help the shelter should donate money or toiletries. Visit ottawa.anglican.ca for more information.