A man has passed away after suffering severe burns to his body in a fire on Carleton’s campus Jan. 3, according to Ottawa police Const. Marc Soucy.
Campus safety received the initial call from a witness at 1:30 p.m. that there was a man on fire, said Allan Burns, Carleton’s director of university safety. The department’s dispatcher then placed the call to Ottawa police, paramedics, and fire department.
The fire was extinguished by a campus safety officer, Burns said.
“The man was still conscious and in shock, so we basically just assisted paramedics in treating him and getting him packaged for transport to the hospital,” said Marc Messier, a spokesperson for Ottawa Fire Services.
Soucy said when police arrived, they found an injured person on the scene.
The fire took place in the parking garage, P9, located next to Robertson Hall.
The man was not a member of the Carleton community, Burns confirmed.
“He lived in the surrounding community and that’s about all we know,” he said.
Burns also confirmed there was no extension of the fire to cars in the garage or the parking lot itself.
Ontario’s fire marshall’s office and Ottawa fire department’s investigator were involved in the initial investigation. The incident was then turned over to the Ottawa police, according to Burns.
The Ottawa police forensic investigation unit was present to conduct a scene examination before the parking garage was released back to campus safety, Burns said. As of 5:30 p.m. Jan. 3, there was still a long lineup of cars waiting to exit the building and officers were still interviewing drivers.
“I think the police were investigating to find out if this was self-inflicted or if it was a criminal matter,” Messier said.
Soucy said there’s no foul play or criminal act involved in the incident.
“There’s no criminal investigation ongoing,” he said.
– with files from Oliver Sachgau and Andrew Nguyen
