STEPHENVILLLE — A fire late Friday displaced nine tenants including
two children from one section of an apartment building in Stephenville.
The blaze was reported around 9 p.m. on Friday in a building on Upper Georgia Drive.
Fire Chief Wayne Reilly of the Stephenville Fire Department said it was a tough fire to fight and praised the firefighters and the support of Marine Institute’s Safety and Emergency Fire Training Centre.
He said a male was taken to hospital, but didn’t know the extent of his injuries. A firefighter also received an injury when he slipped on some ice while fighting the fire.
Reilly said there were times the fire was so intense firefighters feared they may lose the entire building, but he said fortunately firefighters managed to contain the fire to a single apartment unit.
Police involved in the investigation were not available on Sunday for comment.
Along with the apartment that was extensively damaged three others received smoke or water damage.
Disaster volunteers with the Canadian Red Cross are assisting six adults and two children with emergency accommodations and the purchasing of clothing and food.
The Red Cross also provided personal-care kits and blankets, plus teddy bears to comfort the children.
A ninth tenant whose apartment was damaged went to stay with friends and didn’t require any immediate aid from the Canadian Red Cross.
And in addition to items mantioned above, landlords should be made responsible and made it mandatory to bring all rental units upto fire codes, electrical codes, building codes, etc. and including fire escapes for all units instead of some which have only 1 door to the rental units and windows which are too small to use as an escape route........