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Update: Police working to identify body located in burned Antwerp apartment

Anyone with information or video footage of the area is asked to contact police

Updated Sept. 21 at 10:44 a.m.: Greater Sudbury Police have confirmed they are investigating this morning's fatal fire on Antwerp Avenue in the Donovan.

GSPS said officers were dispatched to the scene of the fire at around 6:10 a.m. today after being contacted by Greater Sudbury Fire Services. The call was made after firefighters discovered a body in the burned four-unit residential building. 

Police have not yet confirmed the identity of the person who died. "We are working in collaboration with the Coroner's Office and the Ontario Fire Marshal," police said.

Patrol officers are currently on the scene. Detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division are canvassing the area for information and video surveillance footage.

Anyone with information or footage is asked to contact police at 705-675-9171 or Crime Stoppers at 705-222-8477.

Updated Sept. 21 at 10:17 a.m.: Greater Sudbury Police and the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating after a suspicious fatal overnight fire at a four-unit residential building on Antwerp Avenue in the Donovan area.

When Sudbury.com arrived at the scene around 9 a.m. this morning, the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office and Greater Sudbury Police were on scene. 

Firefighters were also still on scene, as the fire had not yet technically been extinguished. The roof has collapsed onto the apartments below, making it difficult to deal with hotspots. 

The building has sustained heavy damage, and there is also a burned vehicle in the driveway.

Jesse Oshell, deputy fire chief with Greater Sudbury Fire Services, said he can’t comment at this time as to why the fire has been deemed suspicious, nor on its probable cause.

“At this time, it’s still under investigation,” he said. “All I can say is that when we arrived on scene, fire was heavy in the front driveway section of the building.”

Firefighters were called out to the scene of the Donovan-area building at around 1 a.m. this morning.

“Our crews started their fire operations by setting up, getting water on that fire, getting inside to do a search as much as they could of each of the apartments and then confirming where the occupants of all of the apartments were,” Oshell said.

“However, with the significant amount of fire that was already here when our crews arrived, they were unable to complete a full search of one of the apartments, and unfortunately and very tragically that is where the victim was found.”

Oshell was unable to release any details about the victim.

He said the building’s four units housed a total of six people that he knows of. Except for the individual who died, all others in the building at the time of the fire escaped unharmed. One of the units was unoccupied, as the tenants were out early this morning.

“Certainly our thoughts are with the family and those affected by this tragic loss,” Oshell said. “Any time we have a fire loss in our community, we take that extraordinarily seriously.”

He asks that people avoid the Antwerp Street area today as emergency services personnel continue to operate in the area.

Updated Sept. 21 at 8:45 a.m.: Deputy Fire Chief Jesse Oshell said the overnight fire on Antwerp Avenue has been deemed suspicious. Not only that, but the body of a tenant of the residence was located inside.

The investigation has been turned over to Greater Sudbury Police and the Ontario Fire Marshal.

Firefighters remain on the scene on Antwerp. 

Original story

There was an fire on Antwerp Avenue overnight, City of Greater Sudbury Deputy Fire Chief Jesse Oshell reported on Twitter.

Oshell tweeted at 2:21 a.m. that fire services were on scene at the fire, and asked people to avoid the area.

By 5:13 a.m., Oshell had tweeted that the fire was under control.

No further information is available at this time. This story will be updated.

Fire is under control and operations continue. pic.twitter.com/exnhctW27M

— Jesse Oshell (@JesseOshell) September 21, 2021

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Heidi Ulrichsen

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