Charred remains are all that is left of four tents that caught fire early Monday morning at the Green Road encampment in Dartmouth, N.S.
Cleanup crews were at the scene Wednesday, clearing away the piles of debris that residents once called home.
“Now they have to start right from scratch with whatever people are generous enough to give them,” said P.J. McKay, a longtime resident of the Green Road encampment.
McKay lives in a camper on the other side of the field from where the fire started.
She says around 6:30 a.m. on Monday, she was jarred awake by a loud noise.
“I thought it was doors slamming, because it had happened in the past,” she said. “I just laid my head back down, and then I heard it getting louder. So, I got up and looked and seen the whole corner lit up.”
Halifax Fire and Emergency has since reported that no one was injured in Monday’s blaze, but McKay said it was a close call.
Due to the proximity of the tents, the fire spread quickly — at one point trapping two residents.
“But there was a hero in the field that ripped the back out of it and hauled the people out,” McKay said. “He said, ‘I heard them screaming, and could not stand by and watch them burn.'”‘
Although the Green Road hero prefers to remain anonymous, McKay said there’s no question he acted just in the nick of time — saving the lives of his two neighbours before emergency crews arrived.
Watch the video above for the full story.