Business owners assessing damage after fire in Woodstock

Clues pointing to electrical malfunction in Woodstock fire Fire investigators say clues are pointing to an electrical malfunction as the cause of the destructive fire in Woodstock.

Fire investigators believe an electrical malfunction may to be blame for a fire that destroyed at least two businesses and displaced 23 people in Woodstock, N.B.

The fire started around 10 a.m. Tuesday at the two-storey Rose Building on Main Street. Firefighters from Woodstock, Hartland, N.B. and Houlton, Maine responded to the scene.

“Once we could not control the interior tact, we called on our neighbourhood Americans, the Houlton Fire Department, and asked for the ladder truck,” says Woodstock Fire Chief Ricky Nicholson. “The ladder truck was an advantage. It supplied over 2,000 gallons a minute.”

Fire officials say at least two apartments and two businesses are a total write-off, while there's smoke and water damage throughout other historic buildings in the area.

No one was injured.

Initially, the Red Cross said 22 people had been displaced. That number has now increased to 23.

“The Red Cross will monitor them over the next three days and at the end of that, if there’s still a need, we will step up and make any decisions that are necessary to help them,” says Lorne Drake of the Canadian Red Cross.

Lynn Rose owns a clothing shop next door to the Rose Building. She says smoke damage will keep her store closed for several weeks.

“For us, we’re pretty lucky because it was just smoke damage,” says Rose. “I’d never leave downtown so I guess it will probably be six weeks to eight weeks until we open again and hopefully do it bigger and better.”

The buildings damaged by the fire are some of the oldest in downtown Woodstock and engineers are now trying to determine whether demolition can be avoided in some cases.

“Whether the façade could be saved or salvaged, but ideally we’d like to maintain the historic character downtown,” says Woodstock Mayor Arthur Slipp.

Meanwhile, an online petition is calling on the town to acquire its own ladder truck.

“Our department heads will get together and have a debriefing,” says Slipp. “They’ll discuss what recommendations, if any, the council should undertake.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore