‘Everything’s gone’: Fire at N.B. trailer park leaves man homeless

A fire that extensively damaged a unit in a Moncton, N.B., trailer park has left one man homeless.

Justin Colpitts was at his camp in the woods when his mobile home on Marsh Street caught fire around 10 p.m. Thursday.

Colpitts is not sure what happened.

“One minute you have something and then the next you don’t,” he said.

It was the second fire in three days in the Ryder Trailer Park, which is located off Mountain Road.

Early Tuesday morning a vacant unit on nearby Pioneer Drive was also significantly damaged by fire.

Moncton Fire Department platoon chief Paul Bruens said the cause of both fires are under investigation, but he does not believe they are related.

No one was hurt in either fire.

Bruens said there are no fire hydrants in the park.

“We had to use tankers in addition to the engines,” said Bruens.

On Saturday, Colpitts was sifting through what remained of his personal belongings, but there wasn’t much left.

“I might be able to salvage a couple pairs of jeans and clothes and stuff like that, but everything else. The ceiling, the walls, the floor, the bathroom. Everything’s gone,” said Colpitts.

Colpitts, who slept in his trailer Friday night, said he will have to start over.

Nathalie Aube lives across from where Tuesday’s fire took place.

She said the unit was vacant, but people were coming and going.

“There’s a lot of homeless people hanging around,” said Aube.

She’s quite concerned about two fires in her neighbourhood in three days.

“The trailers are close by so if one burns another one could come up in flames too,” said Aube.

Aube said the park is friendly for the most part, but she mostly keeps to herself.

“I’ve been living here for over 30 years. It’s going down but, life is hard for everybody,” said Aube.

Colpitts said the despite having a bit of a bad reputation, the park is a friendly and respectful place.

“People are really generous. If you have problems or anything like that, they’re the first ones to help you out. Everybody goes on that this is a bad place. Well, it’s not because your neighbours always look out for you,” said Colpitts. “We’re all like a community in here.”

CTV News has reached out to the Codiac Regional RCMP for more information on the fires.

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