Crews extinguish fire at Middle Sackville, N.S., apartment building

Many people who were evacuated from a Middle Sackville, N.S., apartment building due to a fire are struggling to find places to live.

After more than a day of work, crews extinguished an apartment fire in Middle Sackville, N.S., that displaced hundreds of residents earlier this week.

Halifax Regional Municipality confirmed crews concluded their fire operations around 3 p.m. on Tuesday. The fire originally broke out at the four-storey building at 119 Hanwell Rd. around 12:10 a.m. Monday.

“There are 64 units in the apartment building, with approximately 180 residents,” a news release from the municipality reads. “The municipality can confirm that no one was injured as a result of the fire. As well, due to the swift response by Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency (HRFE), the fire was prevented from spreading to an adjacent building.”

Halifax Fire District Chief Robert Hebb previously told CTV News Atlantic the initial call came in as a deck fire.

On Tuesday crews arranged for an excavator to open up the building in certain spots to confirm the fire was extinguished. Some residents have been allowed to recover their possessions from the building.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation and there is no estimated timeline for its completion.

Evacuation centre

According to the municipality, families from 61 of the 64 units in the building (equaling 139 people) have registered with the Canadian Red Cross.

An evacuation centre that was established at the Springfield Lake Recreation Centre to help residents will shut down to anyone who has not registered on Wednesday. The municipality notes there are currently no residents in the centre.

“Any residents experiencing difficulty securing short-term accommodations are encouraged to contact the Red Cross through the evacuation centre for assistance,” the release reads.

The Encounter Church of the Salvation Army is collecting donations for people impacted by the fire, including:

• bottled water
• non-perishable food
• new clothing
• hygiene products

Donations are being collected at 51 Metropolitan Ave. in Lower Sackville from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday. Furniture donations cannot be accepted at this time.

‘I took them in’

Adi Agrawal received a call at 2:30 Monday morning letting him know his friends needed help after losing their home and belongings in the fire.

“I didn’t know what to do. I just rushed to them and saw them in their pajamas, they didn’t have anything left,” said Agrawal.

The family was also in need of a place to go.

“I took them in, and they are currently living with me and that’s the least I can do,” said Agrawal.

Resident Amit Hooda said finding a place to live was priority and he’s grateful they found one.

“On Friday we will move out to this apartment and then buy a mattress and everything from scratch,” said Hooda.

The other 63 families displaced by the fire may not have the same luck.

“It’s a really challenging market, vacancy is still only one to two percent and most of that vacancy is in the more expensive types of housing. So, these folks are facing what a lot of Nova Scotians have been facing for a long time,” said Michael Kabalen, executive director of the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.

Hooda did have insurance and, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, so did most of the other tenants at 119 Hanwell Drive.

“At this point I don’t have a lot of detailed information. They told me to create a list as detailed as I can and we can go over it,” said Hooda.

“What will be covered is what they had insured. So, for example, there could be a tenant’s policy that had a $10,000 limit, so if everything is gone, the likelihood of hitting that $10,000 limit is pretty good,” said Amanda Dean, vice president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada – Ontario and Atlantic.

- With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Natalie Lombard and Emma Convey.

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