KELOWNA – Residents of the Legacy II building met with fire and community officials Wednesday night to find out exactly when they would be able to get back into their homes.
With it being only 24 hours after the blaze swept through the 62 unit building officials did not have much information for residents who are now without a home and in the care of emergency social services.
“Every resident in that building will be out of their home for quite some time.” says Assistant Fire Chief Lou Wilde, “The least affected unit has severe water damage to carpet and drywall.”
Kyle Wetton lost everything in the fire, “We were on the top floor, unit 403, right on the end and I lost everything unfortunately, but we do have insurance.”
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With or without insurance residents of the Rutland apartment building will also get support from Emergency Services for the next few days
“Right now we are at the Ramada for the next 3 days and then we’ve got our vouchers which are $150 for clothes and $50 for toiletries, so you do what you can.” explains Wetton.
But beyond that, those without insurance will have to rely on the help of friends and the community who has turned out en masse to donate to whatever may be needed.
One concerned Kelowna resident dropped off a couple of loads at the Salvation Army – current headquarters for displace residents, “I dropped off some blankets, stuff for babies, tubs, pillows, hot water bottles, pots dishes -pretty much any house hold items.
Fire officials have finished their investigation into the fire, which was started by a balcony BBQ, and now it will be up to the restoration and insurance companies to inform residents of when they can get back into the homes.
However it will likely be sometime before they can do so; previous fires of similar magnitude saw residents out of their homes for 9 to 12 months.
Meantime, says Wilde, there can be some moments of small comfort in knowing there were no injuries or loss of life in the fire and hearing the heart-warming stories of rescuing the family pets.
“They got their fish back and when we made that announcement in there, those people were super happy and it also brought laughter and applause from the people in there.”
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