The search for answers is underway after fire broke out at a downtown Kitchener bar, destroying the restaurant and two apartments above it.
Firefighters were called to Marina’s – on King Street near Cedar Street – around 3:15 a.m. Thursday after somebody noticed flames coming from the building.
They arrived to find it engulfed in fire.
“This fire travelled deep within the building, from the front to the rear,” said Carlin Riley, an assistant platoon chief with the Kitchener Fire Department.
Firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading to neighbouring businesses, which Riley says was in large part thanks to the small gaps between Marina’s and the other buildings.
There was nobody inside the bar when the fire began. People living in upper-floor apartments were all safe, firefighters said.
Marina Bickford had owned the bar for the past 22 years.
Police officers went to her home early Thursday morning to tell her about the fire. She arrived at the scene around 4 a.m., and quickly realized there was “no hope” of the building being saved.
“I don’t know if we are going to be able to salvage anything from there,” she said later in the morning.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do now. It’s hard to imagine not having the bar.”
By early Thursday afternoon, the fire was out and equipment was being brought in to remove the building’s roof, making it safe for investigators to enter the rubble and search for a cause.
King Street was expected to remain closed at the fire scene until later in the day.
With reporting by Allison Tanner
