Residents of a Charlotte Street apartment building on Woodstock’s
southside escaped safely with the help of Woodstock Fire Department
personnel early Friday morning, Dec. 2, as a fire raged at the
building’s front entrance.
Woodstock Fire Chief Harold McLellan said crews responded to the fire
call at 2:19 a.m. Friday.
He said the first firefighters arrived to find the building’s front
verandah burning.
As some firefighters knocked down the front-entrance blaze, McLellan
said others helped trapped tenants and pets escape via a ladder from the
roof of the building’s back porch.
“We helped three adults, two kittens, a cat and a dog,” the fire chief
said.
McLellan said the emergency call came in with the frightening
description of a “structure fire with people trapped.”
“Your heart rate goes up, and your foot pedal goes down,” he said.
While firefighters contained the fire to the front verandah, McLellan
said the public hallway and four apartments sustained smoke and soot
damage.
He said he believes all displaced tenants found someplace to stay. He
said the landlord would have to remediate the smoke damage before
tenants could return.
McLellan said they know the fire started in the exterior of the
building, but the cause is under investigation.
He said officers from the Woodstock Police Force and Fire Marshal’s
Office attended the fire scene.
In a statement issued Friday afternoon, Woodstock police expressed
interest in speaking to anyone with information about the fire,
encouraging them to call 1-506-325-4601.
Information can also be provided anonymously through Crime Stoppers at
1-800-222-TIPS (8477), by downloading the secure P3 Mobile App, or by
Secure Web Tips at www.crimenb.ca. [1]
McLellan said 14 firefighters responded to the Friday morning fire, the
seventh in the past week.
