May 12th, 2010
Tripling the damage
By Evan Thornton // 1 Comment
It turns out it wasn't just our imagination; Ottawa is experience a mini-boom in fires. According to Ottawa Fire Services, there were 98 fires causing $50,000 or more in damage in 2006; by 2009 Ottawa experienced 143 fires in that category.
Definition of "structure working fires" = $ loss is equal to or greater than $50,000
Year # # of structure working fires
2006 98
2007 133
2008 106
2009 143
Jan - March 2010 41
Of course, part of the reason can no doubt be chalked up to inflation; presumably most structures would have been worth more in 2009 than in 2006 and so the $50,000 threshold was easier to reach. But in addition to the figures above, the total damage in dollars took a huge jump - from $5.3 million in 2007 to $11.6 million in 2008. That same total for 2009 was very nearly $15 million, three times the 2007 figure.
And look at the number logged by the end of March this year - 41 incidents already, and that was before a spate of fires in the east end and the $3 million in damages reported from the condo fire in Kanata.
Interestingly, even a very large fire may not be captured by such reporting, despite the cost to the taxpayer of putting it out. In the case of the recent massive blaze at an auto recycler the insured value of the scrap metal was $0.00, and so will not be reported as damage to structures or goods.
On a different tack, in news reports these days we often read of a fire department official describing a fire as "suspicious". Could it be possible that fires so labeled are also on the increase? Do any Spacing Ottawa readers believe that a number of suspicious fires may be related to development pressures in areas with older building stock?
photo by Mark Blevis
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Neither the author nor Spacing necessarily agree with the comments posted below. Spacing reserves the right to edit or delete comments entirely. See our Comment Policy.
It seems odd that the value of scrap metal at a recyclers' yard devoted to putting such metal back into usable products would have an insurable value that low. It's worth something to resell it, after all.
Comment by Dwight Williams
May 14, 2010 | 1:02 pm