Early morning fire in Hamilton

Firefighters worked through the night to put out a massive blaze at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Hamilton that destroyed the building’s roof. The Ontario Fire Marshall is now investigating, and the Ukrainian community is in shock.

Not long after midnight, flames began shooting out of the roof of the building. The entire roof collapsed as well as some of the exterior walls, drawing close to fifty firefighters at one point. Before the collapse, firefighters made a daring attempt to quell the flames entering the building and reaching the second floor. Luckily, no one was hurt and by morning, crews were left extinguishing smaller, smoldering flames. The ferocity of the fire means the building is an expensive total loss, drawing the attention of the province’s top fire official.

Representatives from the centre say the building is usually rented out on Friday nights, but not this time. They say a group had been in the building in the evening, setting up for an event in the morning, but they left before any sign of trouble.

The fire was contained to the centre and did not spread to neighbouring buildings. No word yet on a cause.