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One man is dead and and at least 3 families displaced after a fire at a town-house complex this afternoon on Upper Ottawa. The fire department responded to a call of a car into a house and they say as soon as they came around the corner and saw the flames they immediately called in multiple units. The driver of the car could not be saved and was pronounced dead. Witnesses say the neighbours dog was also killed.

The enitre unit was gutted and blackened by smoke. Neighbours say the deceased is a man named Paul who lived in unit 47. According to a number of witnesses he appeared to ram into unit 22 on purpose.

“I was walking down the street and this car like flew past and kind of went toward me and my mother and then he kept going straight and flew over the curb and went straight into the garage and all this smoke came and like an explosion and a fire.” Says one witness.

The fire department says 2 people were home at the time of the blaze, a mother and a daughter. They heard a loud bang and miraculously got out unharmed but the neighbours dog ran off scared and was later found dead.

At least 7 fire units were called in and officials say the home was fully engulfed by the time crews arrived. “When we arrived on scene there was heavy fire and flames shooting all the way up the 3 storey structure and it impinged on the homes on either side.”

3 families have had to find somewhere else to sleep, the city was on hand to help displaced residents. Damage is estimated to be about $500,000.