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Three adjoining buildings that housed businesses and apartments were destroyed in a downtown New Glasgow, N.S., fire on Wednesday afternoon.
Ken Roux, the owner of one of the buildings destroyed on Provost Street, lost his home and vintage store business in the fire. He said the loss of the buildings will have an impact to the downtown area.
“It’s going to be tough on the remaining business. The places [that were lost] were well-loved too, right? And I mean, yes, we suffered loss, our neighbours have lost everything too and this is really horrible,” Roux, who bought the building in April 2017, told CBC News.
Firefighters and an excavator were on site during the fire on Provost Street. Three buildings with apartments and businesses were destroyed. (Luke Ettinger/CBC)
“There’s a lot of people out of a place tonight. Me and my wife are better off than most, so we can be thankful for that, that we have places to go, that we have options — not everyone does.”
The fire was reported on the upper portion of Provost Street at 2:57 p.m., according to New Glasgow Fire and Rescue.
“It’s really devastating, it’s particularly devastating personally for the people who own the buildings, that run businesses there and certainly the people that were living there. I can’t imagine how they’re feeling right now,” New Glasgow Mayor Nancy Dicks told CBC News.
“To lose sort of the history of downtown and the history of those particular buildings is significant. They’ve been there for many, many years.”
New Glasgow Regional Police told CBC News the fire is contained, but roads were blocked and traffic was being directed away from the main arteries in the downtown area.
“We want pedestrians and drivers to stay away from the downtown area just to allow the emergency crews to work,” said Const. Ken Macdonald.
“There’s also a growing concern too of the smoke, so we want to make sure everyone is being safe.”
Macdonald said the cause of the fire is not yet known. While paramedics were on site, Macdonald didn’t know if anyone was injured.
Dominic MacKenzie smelled smoke after he got off the bus on Wednesday afternoon.
“It looked like something straight out of a movie. Just the whole street was filled with smoke and you couldn’t see two feet ahead of you,” MacKenzie said.
First responders at the fire on Provost Street in New Glasgow, N.S. (New Glasgow Regional Police)
“And then once you looked closer, there was just flames coming up through the roof of Zelda’s Flowers and the pet store and just the top of the building was just completely ablaze.”
MacKenzie said Zelda’s Flowers and the pet store were mainstays of the community. He also said the buildings were some of the last historic buildings left on Provost Street.
“It’s just a damn shame that they’re gone. The view is going to be different for sure from downtown now,” MacKenzie said.
Smoke billows out from buildings on fire on Provost Street in New Glasgow, N.S. (New Glasgow Regional Police)
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