NB news: Fire damages three homes Achi-News

Cameron Street in Moncton was quiet Monday morning, but boarded up windows, caution tape and the smell of smoke lingered – following a multi-unit fire early Sunday morning.

“Upon arrival we noticed that there were a number of people hanging from windows, so we had to take someone from a third story window through the school and then someone else from a second story window,” said the Deputy Head of Operations at the Moncton Fire Department Keith Guptill.

At the same time, several firefighters and members of the Codiac RCMP worked to evacuate the ground floor units.

Guptill says the only injuries were minor smoke inhalation from the two rescued victims.

Two side-by-sides on Cameron Street had to be evacuated – including one home that had been renovated into a seven-unit building – and one building suffered minor damage from the heat and smoke.

“What happens in these balloon frame buildings, they are built on a foundation and the walls are hollow all the way to the attic so no matter where the fire starts, it travel very fast because there are a lot of empty spaces and empty spaces,” said Guptill. “In these older homes where there is plaster and lath, it is very difficult to get access to those walls compared to the chipped stones we would have in our homes today. What he did is go into the ceiling and the space in the attic and again behind that lath and plaster and then the sweep would be on the roof, holes had to be cut, five or six of holes, in the roof to chase this fire down.”

Buildings damaged by fire on Cameron Street in Moncton. (Source: Alana Pickrell/CTV News Atlantic)

The incident left 11 people with nowhere to go.

Guptill says Codiac Transportation was called immediately so the displaced tenants had somewhere to stay. The Canadian Red Cross was on the scene with emergency kits and helped make accommodation immediately. NB Power turned off the electricity so that fire crews could use water to put out the fire safely.

“It’s such a joint effort between them, and of course Codiac RCMP, it’s a huge thing as we try to get around these victims and make sure they’re OK,” he said.

Crews received the first call shortly after 2am and were at the scene until around 7am The fire is under investigation.

Those who were in the fire say that it was a difficult one to put out and that a practical response was needed.

“We received a call at around 2:05am on Sunday morning. That call told us there were at least two houses on fire, possibly three and so of course we responded with four units initially and then sent a fifth unit which was the entire city for coverage,” Guptill said. “We brought in additional staff to staff one of our own units, our spare units, it’s called a ready reserve and the other thing we’re doing is putting Dieppe and Riverview on hand . We will stop some of the minor calls, but any of the bigger calls, Dieppe and Riverview will come over and take care of those calls while we do that.”

Although he did not want to speak for the fire chief, Guptill says increasing the number of firefighters the city has is on the chief’s radar.

The City of Moncton confirmed that the department currently has 115 members, which breaks down to 68 firefighters, 20 captains, 20 lieutenants, three training officers and four fire prevention staff members.

“Earlier this year, the City Council adopted a motion to proceed with a 10-year master plan for the fire department. It looks at a wide range of services and resources. Included is a section on human resources,” said Isabelle LeBlanc, director of communications, in an email to CTV News. “Work on the master plan has already started and is expected to be presented at the end of 2024. The master plan will provide what may be needed in the next decade.”

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