Blaze at London’s new micro-shelter community likely caused by a candle or cigarette, city says

Fire crews responded to the newly opened homeless micro-shelter community on Sunday morning.

The City of London says a candle or lit cigarette likely caused a fire at London’s micro-shelter for the unhoused over the weekend.

CTV News was on the scene Sunday morning just moments after the blaze broke out at the site on Cheese Factory Road.

On Monday, Chris Green, lead of the Micro-Modular Shelter Project (MMSP), says the fire ignited in the “bedding” of one of the units, triggering a smoke alarm.

On-site staff were able to put the flames out with extinguishers before the arrival of fire trucks.

No staff or residents were hurt.

But the shelter sustained damage to the wall and floors.

It is the first incident of fire at the micro-shelter community that currently houses 60 people the city calls “participants.”

The program has a capacity for 70.

Green says steps are being taken to ensure fire safety rules are followed.

“We definitely think it was accidental, but nonetheless, we have reinforced with that participant the importance of no open flames, and they understand that hopefully this will not happen again. Should that recur, we’ll have to revisit the possibility of removing them from the program,” he explained.

The micro-shelter program permits smoking outdoors, but open flames such as cigarettes or candles, and ignition sources including hot plates, are prohibited indoors.

While this is the first fire-related incident, Green says a few residents have already been removed from the program for minor “behavioural issues.”

Overall, he says “there have been very few issues.”

Council approved spending up to $7 million to construct and operate the site until April 2027.

CTV News reached out to London Fire Department officials for confirmation of the cause of Sunday’s incident but did not receive an official response by publication time.