The cause of a fire that destroyed a strip mall in Hyde Park last summer has been ruled "accidental."
The results of the Ontario Fire Marshall investigation into the June 30 fire at 1700 Hyde Park Rd. were made public Monday morning.
According to a news release from the City of London, "Based on the findings of the investigation, the OFM Investigator classified the cause of the fire as accidental. No evidence was found suggesting an intentionally set fire. The extensive damage from the fire made it impossible to determine an exact cause. Despite the extensive damage, the evidence does suggest that the fire started in the attic space of the building."
No injuries were reported in the blaze, but damage was determined to be in the $1.5-million range.
At the immediate aftermath of the blaze, the head of the Hyde Park Business Association expressed "profound sadness" over the losses faced by the owners of the damages businesses.
“These business have struggled through road construction twice, we just came out the other end, we’ve just had some great aspirations working together, and [now] this is really a big setback for all of them,” Donna Szpakowski told BlackburnNews.com on June 30. ”They’ve just gone through a profound loss; for some of them it’s their entire livelihood.”
