Two apartment fires in the Maritime displaces nearly 60 tenants, no one injured

Two apartment building fires in the Maritimes have displaced nearly 60 tenants.

As many as 50 people were forced out of an 18-unit apartment building in Kentville, N.S., just after 4 p.m. Friday.

Chief Brian Desloges of the Kentville Volunteer Fire Department said the building located on Harlten Court was extensively damaged and is currently “uninhabitable.”

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“They (tenants) are not going to return – that building will have to have major reconstruction before anybody is allowed to move back in,” Desloges said in an interview Saturday.

He said the displaced tenants were being assisted with food and lodging by the Canadian Red Cross.

No one was injured in the blaze that also caused significant smoke and water damage to the building. Firefighters briefly cleared an adjacent building containing 18 apartments as a safety precaution, but later allowed those tenants to return.

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Desloges said the provincial fire marshal was on the scene Saturday trying to determine the exact cause of the fire.

He said it has been determined that the fire began on a second-floor balcony and spread to a balcony on the third floor before quickly reaching the attic area of the building. Both balconies had propane barbecues, Desloges confirmed.

He said firefighters were able to knock down the flames within 30 minutes, but not before the loss of nearly 40 per cent of the building’s roof.

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Earlier Friday, seven people, including four university students, were forced to flee a fire that damaged a two-storey rooming house in downtown Fredericton.

The Red Cross said no one was injured in the fire on Beaverbrook Street, which was reported around 4:30 a.m.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2020.