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Police have charged a 75-year-old man with arson following a middle-of-the-night fire that caused $2-million damage to a historic building in London’s Wortley Village neighbourhood.
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Firefighters responded around 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 28 to a structure fire at a building on Wortley Road, north of Bruce Street, where crews used two aerial ladders to douse the blaze. All of the occupants of the building escaped uninjured.
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Investigators determined the fire was suspicious, police said, and damage was estimated at $2 million to the building that houses businesses on the lower level and apartments upstairs.
Douglas Michael Henderson, 75, of London, is charged with arson causing damage to property and arson with disregard for human life, police said on Monday. He was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
Henderson was arrested on Saturday, police said.
Monday, construction fencing surrounded the damaged building, where a security guard was stationed in the rear parking lot. The pet shop and the boutique on the main floor remained closed, while an art gallery has reopened.
One witness previously spoke to The Free Press about what she saw.
Elizabeth Iles recalled seeing flames shooting from the building that she estimated were more than three-metres high. Iles, who lives across the street, said firefighters battled the blaze for two hours before it finally appeared to be out.
“All of the sudden, the flames started bursting out through the roof again,” she said in the hours after the blaze, adding that it was difficult to see a landmark building in the heart of Wortley Village damaged by fire. “People cherish this place.”
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