Businesses remain closed inside historical Moncton building

An historical downtown building was badly damaged in a fire in Moncton on Sunday.

Ground level businesses inside a historic downtown Moncton, N.B., building remained closed a day after a fire caused significant damage inside.

The Moncton Fire Department was called to a fire on a third-floor fire escape of the McSweeney Building around 2 a.m. Sunday.

The early morning fire caused extensive damage inside the nearly 125-year-old building, which is home to several well-known businesses.

Platoon Chief Brian McDonald said the fire activated a sprinkler head inside the building which held the fire in check until it was completely extinguished.

“Unfortunately, there was a substantial amount of water damage because the sprinkler system was activated on the third floor and some water ran down to floor two and floor one,” said McDonald.

The ground level bar, restaurant and café were all closed for a second straight day on Monday.

CTV News tried to get in contact with the building’s owner, but was unsuccessful.

According to the Moncton Museum, the McSweeney Building was the first department store in Moncton and contained the first electric passenger elevator in the region.

Over the years, it’s been home to numerous businesses, subsequent government offices, court chambers and utilities.

It was designated a Heritage Property through the City of Moncton Heritage Preservation in 1996.

Vacant home

A vacant home on Wesley Street, just a few blocks away from the McSweeney Building, was torn down Sunday after being severely damaged by fire.

“It was determined with the amount of water that we had to put in the building to bring it under control and the fact that it wasn’t structurally sound that it was not safe for the public,” said Brad Calhoun, a platoon chief with the Moncton Fire Department.

Firefighters responded to the significant fire around 1:30 p.m.

Calhoun said it was a tough fire to fight because of high winds, low temperatures and no drywall inside the three-storey home.

“For a short period of time it took all five of our trucks here in the city to get this under control on the front end,” said Calhoun. “We upstaffed a spare engine with off duty personnel and as well put our friends from Dieppe on standby in case they were needed for additional calls.”

No one was inside at the time and no injuries were reported.

Antonio Cuellar couldn’t believe his eyes when he walked out the front door of his home Sunday afternoon and saw the fire.

“I honestly thought it was the apocalypse. The smoke was crazy. I was holding my daughter, and the smoke was just rushing everywhere,” said Cuellar.

Kristina Walton lives right next door and called 911 when she saw the flames.

“I notified the people upstairs because they have three kids to let them know they might want to get dressed in case we have to vacate,” said Walton. “Luckily we have the fire department right down the road, so they were super quick at getting here on time.”

The cause of both fires remain under investigation.

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