Winnipeggers affected by a devastating St. James apartment fire Friday night continue to pick up the pieces this week.
Randy Cyr, one of the 180 residents of the Quail Ridge Road complex, said he was celebrating his birthday with his son when the fire alarm suddenly began to ring.
“It was like something out of a movie,” Cyr told 680 CJOB’s The Start.
“Very worrying and alarming. I turned to my son and said, ‘We have to go now.’ He picked up his cat, I grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck and ran downstairs. Within two minutes of running downstairs, the entire roof of the facility was engulfed.
“Myself and all of my neighbours watched our lives burn to the ground.”
Cyr said he stayed with family friends the night of the fire, and he and his son were put up in a hotel by the Red Cross for the rest of the weekend, but now comes the challenging task of scrambling for a new home.
“Unfortunately, I was not insured and it was a calculated gamble on my part, and I am certainly paying the consequences for that.
“Today is going to be a very big and revealing day. I’m hoping to secure a roof over our heads — literally — today if possible. If not, we’re going to be seeking out another hotel for the next couple of days.”
Despite the material loss the building’s residents have suffered, Cyr said there’s somewhat of a silver lining. No one was injured in the blaze, and the community has rallied together to support those displaced by the fire.
“It is one of the few encouraging things out of a disastrous situation,” he said.
“The city, the community, everybody has really come together strong. It is making what was the worst night of our lives somewhat tolerable.”
Diana Hildebrand, a resident of the Quail Ridge apartment building whose suite wasn’t affected by the fire, has been helping to collect donations, and said the turnout of people coming by has been incredible.
Bags upon bags of donations — clothing, food, toiletries and more — have been dropped off at another building in the apartment complex, as well as at the nearby Assiniboia West Rec Centre
“We’ve had donations as far away as Portage la Prairie,” Hildebrand told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg.
“It’s been car after car after car, and I don’t even have the words to tell them how appreciative we are for them doing this.”
Hildebrand said the volunteers have received enough items like clothes, shoes and bedding for now, but non-perishable food, baby items, hygiene products and phone chargers are among the things still needed by those affected.
They’re also looking to help out a couple of students who lost clothing for their upcoming graduation in the fire.
“I know two for sure who have lost their grad outfits … the dress, and one fellow lost his suit he had purchased for the grad,” Hildebrand said.
“We’re just hoping somebody out there has grad dresses they would donate.”
Donations can be taken to 180 Quail Ridge Rd.
In addition to community members, some local businesses are on board with helping the evacuees as well.
Dreamland Diner’s Ravi Ramberran said his restaurant put out a call for donations in the wake of the fire, and the response has been overwhelming — to the point where the eatery’s basement is so full of items they aren’t able to collect any more.
“At Dreamland, basically we were collecting food, clothing, toiletries, bedsheets, pretty much everything someone would have lost in the fire,” Ramberran told Connecting Winnipeg.
“There was a lot of young families there that we were looking to get some help for. We didn’t know how we could participate in getting that but we did know we had a good reach to the public.
“Our basement is stacked, I’ve got at least a container full of goods that we need to get to these people.”