Fire officials say they suspect a salamander basement heater could have set a single-family house under construction in Kanata ablaze Saturday night, destroying the building and causing $350,000 in damage.
Investigators were on scene Sunday in the Maple Grove area of Kanata looking into the cause of the overnight fire.
It began at 11:17 p.m. Saturday in the basement, said Platoon Chief Dave Stephenson, and quickly spread to the roof of the building.
Thirty-seven firefighters and eight trucks spent the night battling the blaze, and were released this morning once it was extinguished.
The house was so new that no street had been assigned to it yet, Stephenson said, adding the house had far more materials constructed on it than just its wood frame given the amount of damage reported.
