‘It was the worst night of my life’: Peterborough fire victim

It started out as a normal night for Justin Myers and his family.

Myers, his wife, two young daughters aged two and seven, and his friend who was visiting were asleep unaware that their lives would soon change forever.

Just before 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, a fire, which police say was deliberately set, engulfed the TVM Mansions at Hunter and Park Streets, just west of downtown Peterborough.

Myers says his friend woke up to the smell of burning plastic and ran and got everyone up.

“I tried to run to our fire escape and I opened it and it was full of flames and smoke.  I slammed our door and pictured all of us dying and said, ‘No, this can’t happen,'” Myers recalled.

“I ran to our balcony and jumped down and hung on for my dear life.  My wife passed the two girls down and I passed them down to the balcony below.  My best friend grabbed them and pulled them to safety.

“I was hanging onto a railing with one arm and she was passing them down to me. It was the most scariest feeling of my life to drop them. I was like, ‘I can’t do this. I need to get them down off this balcony and out of this building.’

“It was the worst night of my life.”

Myers and his family escaped the blaze without injury.

They were one of approximately 16 households to be displaced by the fire

The Myers family is now staying at a temporary apartment on Hilliard Street.

“I just hope nobody experiences what I did with my kids. I’m just so happy to have them staying beside me and laying in their beds at nighttime.”

The City of Peterborough, the Community Housing Resources Centre, Fourcast, the Canadian Mental Health Association and the landlord have been helping the residents in the wake of the fire.

Most were put up in a local hotel as a temporary measure.

“The hotel is meant to be a short-term solution,” city communications manager Brendan Wedley said.  “There were 16 households affected. I can report that 10 have found stable housing and the other six are being connected with short-term housing options while they continue to search for long-term solutions.”

One of the displaced residents told Global News Peterborough he felt the temporary measures were insufficient.

“We were being pushed out of the hotel we were staying in. Most of us haven’t been offered housing. I left yesterday and I’m staying with a friend right now,” said William Florence. “The city gave us $200 in gift cards but that’s all we’ve been given. We’ve been given a single tray of food per day for our breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

Florence recalls being outside waiting to be taken from the scene by a city bus for hours.

“We sat outside for eight hours in our underwear before they finally loaded us on a city bus to go to the hotel,” he said. “It was a couple of hours before the bus showed up and then we sat on the bus and watch our home burn to the ground.”

Florence tells Global News Peterborough he was homeless at one time before trying to get his life back on track.

He says he’s worried that if he turns to the shelter system, he won’t get back out of it.

“Now I’m homeless again.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Now I'm homeless again."

“I’m staying with a friend on his couch for now. Just me and my cat — that’s all I could save,” Florence said.

1:57 Fire rips through Peterborough apartment building

Wedley said that “as of yesterday, none of the residents are turning to a shelter.”

“The emergency shelter is there for all residents, but ideally it’s not for people who have displaced by this type of thing,” he said. The intention is to find them housing. That’s the intention of everyone.”

The city is asking residents to not donate large items right now, but rather to drop gift cards off at the Sherbrooke Street fire hall.

As for the investigation, police are asking anyone with information to come forward.

A woman was arrested near the scene just after police arrived on Sunday.

Kristina Saunders, 35, of Hunter Street West has been charged with attempted murder and arson with disregard for human life.

The Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal is also investigating.