DIEPPE, N.B. – Fire crews were back on the scene of an apartment fire on Champlain St. that left 49 people homeless Sunday night.
Many tenants returned to the building Tuesday to try and retrieve some of their belongings.
“I had a trumpet, guitar, keyboard, big CD collection, DVD collection,” said Daniel Boudreau, a resident on the second floor of the building. “A lot of books, items I bought in Europe, so pretty much all of my stuff was in there.”
Boudreau said he had been in building for more than a year, and didn’t have insurance. He estimated his instruments alone cost $5,000.
“I guess I learned my lesson,” he said.
Nicholas Roy only moved into the building last week. He was supposed to be starting college at CCNB – Dieppe Tuesday, instead he was at the apartment building hoping to at least find his wallet.
“It was pretty quick. All I saw was smoke and the alarm was on, so I just ran out as fast as I can. All my stuff was there. I didn’t even think to pick it up.”
Just before noon, a firefighter was able to enter Roy’s apartment and return his backpack and wallet.
Edine Goufe, a tenant in the building for two years, told Global News he lost almost everything, but he managed to grab his immigration papers and computer as he left his apartment.
“We start to smell the smoke and the big alarm started,” he said. “People were screaming, crying. It’s very hard for us to believe.”
Goufe came to Dieppe from Algeria to study and has been working since he graduated in June. He said he hopes the landlord will be able to relocate him to another apartment, because he doesn’t have family in the country and doesn’t know who he can turn to for support.
The fire is not believed to be suspicious, but crews have yet to determine the cause. The roof did collapse which is slowing the investigation.
“What we’re doing now is eliminating,” said Dieppe’s Deputy Chief Conrad Landry. “We’re trying to eliminate some electrical appliances, fridge, stove. We’re looking at the attic and the ventilation units.”
Fire crews are also trying to determine why there was smoke on the third floor, when the fire began on the fourth floor. Landry said this is unusual because smoke rises. The smoke was so thick, some people were trapped in their apartments and had to be rescued from their balconies.
“That’s pretty rare,” he said. “If a fire is on the second floor, you expect to rescue people on the third and fourth, but a fire on the fourth floor, you don’t expect it because people go down naturally.”
He added that the building did not have a sprinkler system and was built in the 1980’s. Part of their investigation will be looking at the building’s codes as well as any renovations.
The fire happened on the night of August 31, so many tenants had already paid their rents for September. The superintendent promised Tuesday that everyone will get their money back.
“No cheques will be cashed for that month’s rent,” Dave Beaulieu told Global News. “If I did have cash from a tenant paying me, I’m trying to get it back to them.”
He said many of the cheques were destroyed in the fire, and any still at the office will be shredded.
He also said residents will be able to get their damage deposit back from the province, but they have to apply through Service Canada. The process can take up to three weeks.
Late Tuesday afternoon, fire crews began letting tenants go into the building, one unit at a time, to retrieve some of their personal belongings.
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