Tilbury residents, business owners recovering after fire tears through downtown
Officials estimate damage at $2 million
The owner of a gift shop in the historic downtown neighbourhood of Tilbury, Ont., says she's saddened by the damage caused by a massive fire that tore through the area on the weekend.
Amy Cartier owns Kara's Rose Garden, which is eight doors down from the building that burned.
"All the buildings are obviously very old," she said.
"They're all connected so when there was the fire, obviously a lot of the buildings adjacent to it had smoke damage. The ones right beside it had the water damage. … It was pretty bad."
LISTEN: Tilbury's historic downtown recovering from a fire, 3 families displaced
The fire began around 7 p.m. on Friday, according to a statement from Chatham-Kent Fire Rescue.
Nearly 60 firefighters rushed to battle the blaze on Queen Street North, which ripped through a row of businesses with apartments above them.
Community stepping in to help, United Way official says
Nobody was hurt, but part of the roof collapsed, and the buildings were badly damaged by fire and water.
The fire displaced three households.
An executive with the United Way said the displaced people are currently living with other family members and are receiving help from the Tilbury Information and H.E.L.P. Centre.
"I was there yesterday morning, and people were already walking in with gift cards just wanting to help their neighbour," said Liam Giles-Hayes, the vice president of programs and strategic relations with the United Way.
"The Tilbury community is really rallying around the families and businesses impacted."
The fire spread so quickly that people had little time to grab prized possessions before fleeing, he said.
Now, much of what they owned is destroyed.
Anyone wanting to help can donate clothing, cash or grocery gift cards, he added.
Cartier's business was all smokey after the fire, she said. But she has since reopened, and says a lot of people have stopped in wanting to talk.
"It seems like everybody's kind of out and about seeing what's going on," she said.
Downtown Tilbury already has another building that's been under construction for a couple of years, Cartier noted, adding she hopes it won't be long before the neighbourhood is looking vibrant again.
"Of course our downtown core does not look pretty right now," she said.
"Nobody wants to look at a mess of a downtown."