Another Fire on Main Street

At 7 in the morning another building burned to the ground on Main Street. The apartment at 813 Main Street containing eight fully leased suites caught fire and one person was hospitalized. It is the fourth fire in two weeks around the area. The wreckage of Surplus Direct, Top Pro Flooring and Lord Selkirk Furniture is still seen in the next block over.

The fire could have been so much worse with a social housing tower next door. Smoke damage was limited but it had to be scary both for residents and for firefighters. The fire department and emergency workers were good at containing the fire but the total loss of yet another building is alarming. If it was arson like some other fires have been, we have to stop those who are doing it. Past experience has revealed that it is often now as isolated event. If the fire was something faulty, it also shows how dangerous some places are for containing and suppressing fires.

Local residents and firefighters lamented as more and more buildings that had apartments or working businesses are been burned down.  It could reach a point where land is empty for blocks and no one re-builds. In some cases, it already is. If business fear they can't rebuild lest they get burned down, the city and the province will have a worse crisis than they ever thought imaginable.