Crews battle early morning commercial fire in north-end Hamilton

Emergency crews in Hamilton battled a third-alarm commercial fire today that began early Wednesday morning and caused the closure of several streets in the north end.

Hamilton police say the former American Can building at 391 Victoria Ave. North continued to burn into the morning and first responders remained on scene working to extinguish the blaze.

Calls reporting the fire came to police around midnight, prompting road restrictions to come into place as the work began to tame the flames.

“The fire was in the roof area. We immediately upgraded the alarm, in fact this alarm has gone to a third alarm fire,” said Fire Chief Dave Cunliffe.

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Cunliffe described it as “a very stubborn and difficult fire to fight”, saying the fire department utilized both drone and aerial technology to assess and extinguish the flames.

According to Chief Cunliffe, the heavy flames were of an old commercial industrial structure sandwiched between three other buildings running from the tracks north of the Hamilton General Hospital.

The fire caused the roof to collapse early in the morning, forcing firefighters to battle the blaze from the outside of the building.

The building had been vacant for several years before it was purchased last summer. The structure was currently going through renovations to restore the building in hopes of bringing it back to life, though everyone had left the structure around 3 p.m. that day.

At this time Wellington Street remains closed from Ferrie Street, along with Victoria Avenue which is blocked off at Shaw and Simcoe Streets between Wellington and Ferguson.

Residents in the area were asked to shutter their windows and doors to prevent smoke that continued to blow in the area from entering their homes, as well as warning drivers to avoid the area.

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Hamilton Health Sciences has additionally confirmed that despite the extensive closures in the area, access to the Hamilton General Hospital was not been affected.

Cunliffe says no one was inside the building when the fire began and no injuries have been reported.

The fire was put out shortly after noon but there have been no updates on how it was started.

There were some concerns today, over the possibility of ice forming in the area given the volume of water being used and the sharp changes expected in temperatures by the end of the day.

A man who works for the owner of the building, who purchased it last summer told CHCH News, the building was being restored in hopes of becoming a storage facility and businesses and they hope to keep working on it despite the fire.

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