A FIRE ON SUNDAY MORNING DESTROYED A MAJOR PORTION of the CTV television network newsrooms in Ottawa, Ontario. 

CTV Ottawa

The fire was first detected at 4:30 am on the 2nd-floor and has caused at least $2.5 million in damage.  The network spokeman says that the number could go much higher because of the high value of some of the equipment.  In addition, most of the news archives was destroyed.

Seventy firefighters worked the 4-alarm fire bringing it under control in about two hours. District Fire Chief Jim Corrigan said, “We managed to contain the fire to the second-story of the building. However, smoke migration made it to the fifth floor.”

CTV has two other broadcast facilities in Ottawa and will be able to continue broadcasting their news programming from one of those.  The network is trucking in replacement equipment from their facilities in Montreal, Toronto, and Saskatchewan.

The Canadian Press provided a bit of background history of the network’s early days:

CJOH TV, which signed on back on March 12, 1961, broadcast the first “Question Period” and was home to shows such as “You Can’t Do That on Television” – which was Alanis Morissette’s first television show – “The Galloping Gourmet”, “The Amazing Kreskin,” as well as two soap operas.

The late ABC “World News Tonight” anchor Peter Jennings started his professional career with CJOH TV during its early years, where he anchored local newscasts and hosted a teen dance show, “Saturday Date.”

CTV’s own report on the fire along with some videos is HERE.

CTV Ottawa