Help pours in after fire
Donations pour in for people who lost their homes
Firefighter Chris Cooper walks past the West End Fire Station’s Engine 2 pumper unit as St. John’s Regional Fire Department crews were back Tuesday at the scene of Monday night’s devastating fire on Froude Avenue. Firefighters were on standby in case of any flare-ups occurred as an excavator toppled the remaining walls of the structure and investigators began the task of determine the cause of the blaze.
As people who lost their homes as a result of Monday evening’s fire on Froude Avenue struggle to deal with the impact on their lives, donations from the community have been pouring in at the Froude Avenue Community Centre and the nearby St. John’s Women’s Centre — Marguerite’s Place.
In addition, staff of the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corp. were working Tuesday to find permanent accommodations for people who lost their homes, and to clean and repair other units damaged by smoke and water.
Counsellors have also been on the scene to help people deal with the situation.
Sherry Gambin-walsh, minister responsible for the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corp., said she was amazed at the outpouring of generosity from people.
“To wake up this morning knowing you have nothing, only the clothes on your back, is stressful and traumatic,” Gambin-walsh said. “The community has been fabulous. The RNC was assisting with traffic as donations were pouring in.
“The power had to be cut to the community centre and Marguerite’s Place opened its doors. The staff there said, ‘This is our community, these are our people.’ The community has really stepped up.”
The fire started about 6 p.m. Monday and destroyed eight units — permanently displacing 20 people — while many other units were affected by smoke and water damage, temporarily displacing many other families.
Most of the displaced residents have been put up in hotels or are staying with family and friends.
On Tuesday, staff of the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corp. were assessing all of the units. Some were being cleaned so residents could move back in, while others had to have windows and doors replaced that were damaged by the heat from the blaze.
“We moved some of them to more permanent residences (Tuesday),” the minister said. “We have identified some vacancies throughout the city that crews were in (Tuesday) preparing. Those were units we were getting ready to open up to people on the waiting list.
“We are also working with the City of St. John’s because they have some units, because we needed three accessible units and we only had one as of Tuesday morning.”
Also on Tuesday, the City of St. John’s was faced with questions of how old infrastructure in the Froude Avenue area affected the St. John’s Regional Fire Department’s ability to put enough water on the blaze. Firefighters on the scene found there was low water pressure from the hydrants.
Coun. Danny Breen said Tuesday the city has been working over the past number of years to upgrade the piping in various areas of the city.
“The hydrants in the area, as my understanding, they are on a six-inch line. We have been upgrading our lines throughout the city for a number of years,” Breen said. “This year, I think over the next two years, we expect to upgrade about 6,000 metres of water lines. So the infrastructure in that area was older. Once it is upgraded, then that additional pressure will be provided.”
St. John’s Regional Fire Department Chief Jerry Peach said that when firefighters arrive at any fire scene, they have to deal with whatever problems they face, including a lack of water pressure.
“We had a certain amount of pressure coming out of the ground. We work with the city council crews and the depot to get the best supply of water that we could at the time,” he said. “With a fire of that magnitude you have to take into account it takes a very unusual amount of water and truck power to put that kind of fire down.”
The fire department brought in its tanker truck to augment the water pressure situation.
Peach said that is routine protocol for a fire call like Monday’s.
“We initiated a tanker operation which is a standard operational procedure for the St. John’s Regional Fire Department,” Peach said. “With the purchase of our new tanker a couple of years ago, we now have the ability to carry three times the water a standard pumper would use.”
Some firefighters were still on the scene at Froude Avenue Tuesday chasing hotspots. The scene has also been turned over to the RNC for an investigation into what caused the fire.