‘Homeless for Christmas’: Fire could displace housing complex residents for ‘months’

A fire that started in a second story apartment of a Bruce County community housing complex in Walkerton, could leave residents without a home for several months.

Early Thursday afternoon, Walkerton fire crews arrived to find flames shooting out of a second storey apartment at a housing complex on John Street in Walkerton.

“When I stepped out into the parking lot, that fire was big,” says Allen, one of complex’s residents.

Allen got out okay, but many second floor residents had be rescued by the fire department.

“We did several rescues from second floor balconies. The second storey was filled with smoke, so residents couldn’t evacuate through the main entrance,” says Walkerton Fire Chief, Chris Wells.

One person was treated for smoke inhalation, but no else was injured.

Fire damage was contained to the one apartment, but there is heavy smoke damage on the entire second floor, which means residents may not be getting back into their apartments anytime soon.

“We had a similar fire at a senior’s home in April, and those people were out for up to six months,” says Bruce County Warden, Chris Peabody.

About 20 displaced residents were immediately evacuated to Walkerton’s Arena, and will be put in local hotels Thursday, and possibly longer.

Frustrating for complex residents like Allen, who can’t yet get back in the building to fetch his medication.

“I guess we’re homeless. Homeless for Christmas 2022,” says Allen.

This fire follows a series of blazes involving Bruce County’s most vulnerable in the past 12 months.

“The Hillside Motel. The Forum in Hanover. This building, in the summer, had an arson where three cars were burnt. So, yes, an awful lot of fires,” says Peabody.

Although most of the housing complex residents, likely won’t be home for Christmas, Fire Chief Wells, says smoke alarms stopped this fire from being a lot worse.

“That’s really the reason nobody’s injured, is because people had that early warning, to get out of the building,” says Wells.

The investigation into what sparked the fire is still underway.