Residents displaced by Chatham fire retrieve belongings, describe grief and disbelief

Residents of 99 McNaughton Ave. W., in Chatham, Ont., surveyed the remains of their homes Tuesday after a fire that tore through the building on Sunday displaced more than 120 people.

The municipally-owned, rent-geared-to-income apartment complex went up in flames early Sunday morning.

Tenants described a state of disbelief at watching the building burn.

"I just saw a great big huge orange flame, and I thought, 'Oh my God,'" said Susan Stoddart, who lived in the building for 12 years.

"It was almost like a nightmare."

Stoddart has a CPAP machine, a device used to treat sleap apnea, and didn't notice the sound of the alarm until around 5:45 a.m., she said.

Thought it was a false alarm

At first, she thought it was a false alarm. But then there was a bang on the door and a voice warning her there was an active fire.

"So of course I grab my cell phone and my cigarettes thinking that it was just a small fire, and I'd be allowed to go back in to get whatever I need," she said.

"Which wasn't the case. It was a big fire."

Stoddart is one of dozens of residents who are now currently staying at a Holiday Inn.

They've been told they'll be there until at least Sept. 15, she said.

Susan Stoddart, who lived in the building for 12 years, said the fire "was almost like a nightmare.” (Jennifer La Grassa/CBC)

Asked which personal belongings she was hoping to retrieve from her home on Tuesday, Stoddart, who turns 76 on Wednesday, named essentials such as her breathing machine, her laptop, her passport and the keys for her scooter.

Stoddart said she was grateful that none of her friends were injured in the blaze, but she has not eaten or slept well since it happened, and she's frustrated that she can't plan for the future because she doesn't know what it holds.

"I've been waking up every three to four hours with the flashbacks," she said.

"Everyone says, 'Where do you live?' I don't know where I live anymore because I don't have a home."

Worried about losing community

Stoddart said she's worried about where she'll live if the building is no longer deemed habitable, and she fears the loss of the supportive community she enjoys with her fellow residents.

"If we need something – if you need a loaf of bread or a pound of butter – like somebody's always there to help you," she said.

But she added, "As long as I have a roof over my head, I can make myself happy."

Mathew Radamaker said the experience of walking through the damaged building was scary and a bit traumatizing. (Jennifer La Grassa/CBC)

Mathew Radamaker, who has lived in the building for about four and a half years, recalled walking through the damaged building on Tuesday to retrieve essentials such as his clothing, medication and ID.

He would've loved to have also rescue personal mementos like photographs but says he was given very little time to gather what he could, he said.

He described the inside of the building as dark and dirty with "things coming down from the wall."

"They tore the plywood and sheeting down from the damage of the water," he said.

'More traumatizing than anything'

"Wire [was] hanging down from the ceiling. And it was ... a little scary, but a little bit more traumatizing than anything."

Robert Francis, 55, who has lived in the building for nearly 10 years, said he, like Stoddart, was relieved above all that nobody was hurt in the blaze, and he shared her feeling of disbelief.

He recalled getting up early Sunday to take his dogs outside and hearing the alarm go off.

"We do have multiple times that the fire alarm goes off, and sometimes it's a false alarm, but this one was not a false alarm," he said.

Robert Francis said he's worried about how some of the building's residents will rebuild if they can't get their homes back. (Jennifer La Grassa/CBC)

"I looked behind me, and kind of in the area that I reside in, one of the actual apartments upstairs was engulfed in flames."

Francis, who is also currently staying at the Holiday Inn, said his goal for the day was to retrieve his mother's ashes from the ruins of his apartment.

"Everything else –  I can rebuild my life," he said.

Francis is relatively resilient, but he worries about what will happen to the people who are older and less able to rebuild, he added.

And he urged people not to jump to conclusions about what might have happened at the building.

"Our community living has gotten a bad rap about this building, about drugs, and in situations that happen here on community property," he said.

"There are good people that reside in these buildings. We do care. We have empathy. … Just because we had this difficult situation … don't assume it was this person [or] that person [or] because this person resided there."