Blaze breaks out at Kingston Penitentiary, firefighters forced to break in

There was a fire over the weekend in Cell Block 1 of Kingston Penitentiary, which caused tours of the historic prison to close for a day.

Kingston Fire and Rescue crews were dispatched to the penitentiary early Saturday morning to deal with the blaze but were forced to break in as there were issues with the locks.

“Access was challenging as keys and codes KFR were provided did not work,” Deputy Chief of Operations Don Carter told Global News in an email, adding that crews “forcibly” entered through a garage door.

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“Once inside, the area around the building involved was tight and limited access with larger fire apparatus.”

Once firefighters were able to get inside, they had things under control by about 5:15 a.m., according to a release from the city. About 75 minutes later, crews had cleared the scene, with one firefighter needing treatment for heat exhaustion at the scene.

Carter said it was unclear what the source of the fire was and estimated the damage to be between $50,000 and $100,000.

“The scene has been turned over to Corrections Canada Investigators and is still under investigation,” he said.

A note on the Kingston Pen Tours website said the prison was closed to the public on Saturday but reopened on Sunday.

The penitentiary is perhaps Canada’s most famous prison, opening its doors in 1835 and remaining in operation until 2013.

The maximum security prison was home to a number of Canada’s most notorious inmates over that time, including Paul Bernardo, Clifford Olson and James Donnelly.

Since its closure, it has become a popular tourist destination while also serving as a filming location for a number of TV series, including Reacher, Mayor of Kingstown and Alias Grace.

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