People displaced from their homes at the Walnut Grove Motel are among the hardest hit by Kelowna’s Truswell Road fire.
The fire began in a condominium under construction and completely destroyed that building.
It also spread to the occupied condominium next door, destroying several top-floor units and displacing residents.
The Walnut Grove Hotel was also hit, with nine units badly damaged by fire.
“The people who live here are, you know, kind of lower income. They don’t have much to begin with and now they don’t have anything,” motel manager Dennis Kovacic said.
Kovacic says he has insurance and plans to rebuild but most of those forced out did not have renter’s insurance.
“I haven’t slept in three days,” Dennis Williamson, one of the displaced residents, said.
Williamson said he has a hotel room for the next two days but after that, doesn’t know where he will go.
Jim Matheson is in the same situation.
He got out of his unit with only his dog and his wallet.
“I just don’t know where to go — a place to take a dog,” Matheson said. “Dennis, he gives us all a decent rent and dignity and a place to live.”
with files from Klaudia Van Emmerik