Large fire at south-end Halifax heritage building deemed suspicious

A stubborn fire that tore through a condo on Inglis Street in Halifax's south end on Tuesday is now considered suspicious after firefighters determined it started on the outside of the building with no obvious ignition source.

"There was no electrical outlets, no fuel storage, there was nothing there that would indicate how or why it started. So it will now be turned over to police as a suspicious fire," said Roy Hollett,deputy chief with Halifax RegionalFire and Emergency.

The fire that destroyed the 15-unit building on InglisStreet started around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday and took firefighters nearly 12 hours to extinguish.

Hollett said fire investigators determined the blaze started in an alcove at the back of the building.

That's consistent withwhatfirefighters saw when they first arrived at the scene. When firefighters pulled up they saw the fire climb from the back of the building onto roof, said Hollett.

This fire was particularly hard to fight because the building, which was constructed in 1887 and is a municipally registered heritage property, has been renovated numerous times, leaving spaces between the walls, ceiling and roof where the fire could burn unseen.

"Once they breached the ceilingwe call it a pipe pull, to pull the ceiling downthe space between the ceiling and the roof was full of fire. And they realized then that the fire was throughout the building but not visible," said Hollett.

About 25 people were in the building when it caught fire. All of them managed to get out unharmed. But the building itself was heavily damaged by fire, smoke and the water.

It's not clear how long it will take police investigators to determinehow the fire started.