The Quebec provincial police (SQ) is investigating a suspicious fire that ripped through and completely destroyed a restaurant in Ormstown. Firefighters responded to the call at around 1:15 a.m. on Monday and arrived on the scene of the Casa Venezia restaurant on Lambton Street to find the front window broken and fire on the sidewalk. “So it looked pretty suspicious,” said Ormstown Fire Department chief Mike Greig. A post on the restaurant’s Facebook page thanks those who showed support for the pizza place, saying, “it touches us directly to the heart.” “It’s really incredible how much more than 10 years of effort that a local merchant has been putting into building can be reduced to ashes by such ill-intentioned people,” the post reads. “Fortunately, no one was hurt in the fire.” Fire departments from Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague, Franklin and Howick assisted the 18 Ormstown firefighters. The entire interior of the restaurant was destroyed, but no other buildings were damaged, and there were no injuries reported, Greig said. The fire was under control within 45 minutes, and the SQ arrived to analyze the scene. “We are doing everything we can to get back on our feet as quickly as possible, so that we can serve you again,” reads the Casa Venezia post. It is the second time in the small town of under 4,000 people that a restaurant has been firebombed in recent years, Greig said. In 2022, the Express 57 restaurant was engulfed in flames after what appeared to be a fire bomb was thrown into the establishment. That restaurant has since reopened.
