Mississauga burger restaurant still closed after being affected by ‘suspicious’ fire at MP’s office
Published April 3, 2022 at 2:41 pm
More than a month later, a restaurant in Mississauga is still feeling the lingering effects of a fire that broke out in February.
Gazebo Burgers and Grill is located next door to the office of Mississauga East—Cooksville MP Peter Fonseca, where a fire deemed by police as “suspicious” broke out on the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 22.
“Police were contacted at 4:19 a.m. for a report of a fire in a commercial plaza in the area of Burnhamthorpe Road and Tomken Road in Mississauga,” said Peel police.
“The fire has been deemed suspicious, and investigators from the 12 Division Criminal Investigation Bureau have taken carriage of this incident. We are currently investigating in conjunction with the Fire Marshall’s office.”
No injuries were reported in the fire.
The restaurant has remained closed since then due to damages.
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“In order to prevent the fire from spreading to the remaining businesses in the plaza, the fire department entered our restaurant,” according to a statement from Gazebo Burgers. “During the fire department’s attempt to extinguish the fire, our restaurant got flooded and significant damage was caused due to the flooding.”
The Gazebo Burgers team said they’re grateful no one was injured, and thanked their customers for their continued support.
At this time, the restaurant has not issued any further statement on when they expect to reopen.
In the ensuing investigation of the incident, police said they believe the fire that was deliberately set by an arsonist specifically targeting the local politician.
Ward 3 Councillor Chris Fonseca, who’s married to the Mississauga East-Cooksville MP, described the deliberately set fire as a “senseless act.”
She went on to say that video footage shows that the doors to her husband’s constituency office “were literally smashed open” prior to the fire being set.
“It is very disconcerting and very sad when a community constituency office…is destroyed in this way,” Chris Fonseca said.
“Luckily, this happened in the early morning hours and nobody was physically hurt,” she continued.
While no motive has been established yet, the fire was reported just hours after Fonseca, a third-term Liberal MP, voted with his party to approve extraordinary, time-limited measures in the Emergencies Act.
The investigation is ongoing and no suspects have been identified at this time.
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