‘It was hard to watch’: Family who lost everything in Middle Sackville fire had just moved in

A family lost everything in a recent apartment fire in Middle Sackville, N.S.

Amit Hooda and Monika Mann moved into their new two-bedroom apartment at 119 Hanwell Drive in Middle Sackville, N.S., with their five-year-old daughter on Sept. 1.

It was their second home since moving to Canada two years ago.

Now they have nothing after their apartment building caught fire Monday night.

“Just on Saturday we set up a new office desk for her and now everything is burned down,” says Amit Hooda.

The family lived on the top floor, which was one of the units that went up in flames.

“We saw that three of the floors were on fire and firefighters were there and they tried to control it and after some time it just went through the roof. It was uncontrollable at that time and it was hard to watch,” says Monika Mann, who notes fire alarms woke them up.

“I could smell smoke, I thought something was burning in my unit. But I saw people running out the door and we didn’t think of anything, we just ran outside.”

The cause of the fire is still unknown. Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency said the blaze still wasn’t under control Tuesday as they continued to tackle hot spots.

“We still have some smoldering going on in a portion of the building. And we are waiting on some extra equipment to come to deal with that. Basically we are standing by until we can deal with that portion of the situation. At that point we will start our investigation, which has not commenced as of yet,” says District Chief Drew MacCulloch.

On Tuesday afternoon fire crews were waiting for excavators to break down the back of the building so they could access one hot spot.

Some parts of the building are safe for re-entry, which allowed some residents to retrieve their belongings.

“In the unburnt section, we have deemed that part of the building safe. There is a firewall that separates that part of the building from the rest of the building. We had a standby crew overnight that were here, and they had a bit of a flare-up overnight and called in some additional units to deal with that,” says MacCulloch.

Hard losses

“Apart from what we are wearing we don’t have a single document, like our degree certificates, our passports, our car keys both are there, and I can’t even retrieve my car yet,” says Hooda.

An evacuation centre is open at the Springfield Lake Recreation Centre in Middle Sackville.

The Red Cross told CTV News Atlantic that 52 households have registered with them out of the 64 units in the building that went up in flames.

“Registration allows people to be contacted to access support that may be available. The Canadian Red Cross will continue to work closely with the Halifax Regional Municipality to respond to the evolving needs of those affected,” says Heather Hogan with the Red Cross.

The Salvation Army Maritimes is also providing clothing and items for the residents.

“People are relieved that there are material things here for them so they can start to rebuild. They would have clean clothing and they can get a snack and meet with others in their building,” says Wendy Woodland, Salvation Army Maritimes public relations officer.

Woodland says many people have dropped off items to help. On Tuesday they saw more than 100 people walk through their doors at Encounter Church to drop off items. They welcome donations either through their online platform or in person space.

Hooda and Mann are currently staying with family friends. They feel fortunate they have somewhere to stay and friends they can rely on.

“They called me at around 2:30 a.m. and told me that they need help because their apartment is on fire and yeah, I didn’t know what to do, I just rushed to them and saw them in their pajamas and they didn’t have anything left,” says their friend Adi Agrawal.

“It means a lot, coming to a country where we don’t have a lot of family support, the friends are the family to support in these kinds of things. Everyone has been super supportive, really helpful and have called to check in and come to meet us and they have helped us in every way they can,” says Mann.

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