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man charged with arson in connection with fire in civic hospital emergency department

police charged an ottawa man with arson friday after an...

by elizabeth payne

dec 8 2023
read time 1 minute read
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man charged with arson in connection with fire at civic hospital er
file photo: the ottawa hospital civic campus. jean levac / postmedia news
police charged an ottawa man with arson friday after an early-morning fire inside the civic hospital emergency department.
the department remained open and operational throughout the day.
jean-françois lalonde, 43, was to appear in court friday to face charges of arson endangering life, arson to property, possessing incendiary materials and breach of probation, the ottawa police service said in a news release.
police said hospital security had already taken a suspect into custody by the time emergency services responded to the fire at 6:34 a.m. the fire was extinguished by the hospital’s sprinkler system.
the ottawa hospital declared a “code red” at 6:30 a.m. because of the fire. about 30 patients had to be moved to other areas of the facility, hospital spokesperson rebecca abelson said.
a spokesperson for ottawa fire services said a sprinkler head was activated when they arrived and firefighters helped clean up the water. spokesperson nick defazio said there was no fire or smoke, but the sprinkler could have been activated by someone using a lighter.
no staff or patient injuries were reported, abelson said.
the incident comes about a month after gasoline was poured in a clinical area of the ottawa hospital’s general campus. the hospital said anti-semitic messages were also found. police later said the messages spoke of the conflict in gaza and that police were not investigating the incident as hate-motivated.

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on oct. 27, a transformer at the general campus caught fire, filling parts of the building with smoke and knocking out power. the fire forced the evacuation of babies in the neonatal intensive care unit to nearby cheo. the ottawa hospital had to move numerous patients to other parts of the general campus building. no injuries were reported.
elizabeth payne
elizabeth payne

elizabeth payne is an award winning health journalist whose stories became must-reads during the covid-19 pandemic and beyond.

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