A popular Centretown coffeehouse, The Daily Grind on Somerset Street, has been seriously damaged and possibly destroyed by a fire that broke out around 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
The Daily Grind and the building that houses both the Middle East Bakery and Shiraz Food Market, to the left of the coffee shop, are being burned by the fire that has so far touched the two buildings.
Both buildings have experienced significant damage, and both buildings can be expected to collapse before the blaze is put out, the roofs on both buildings have already caved in areas.
“We opened at 11 and saw flames coming out of the top of the building with tons of smoke,” said Anthony McCanny, an employee at a neighbouring café, Monopolatte. “It’s really sad to see the Daily Grind go; I love that place,” he said.
The fire is believed have started on the roof of the popular café, the Daily Grind. A tenant in the same building said hot tar was being used by a work crew repairing the roof of the structure, but the cause of the fire has not yet been confirmed.
No one who lived in the building was harmed by the fire, but the tenant — who asked not to be named — said his cat is unaccounted for.
“Yeah we couldn’t find my cat,” he said. “We had like two minutes to get out of the building, I couldn’t even find her.”
Ottawa firefighters are at the scene, and are keeping civilians away from the fire and have evacuated a few residences in the area. No injuries have been reported.
The fire is located at the corner of Somerset Street West and Percy Street. A number of streets were closed in the area and a power outage affecting hundreds of area residents was reported.
At around 11 a.m. the first 911 calls came in about a three-alarm fire, which was upgraded to four-alarms in the early afternoon.