http://www.thestar...GTA/article/419849 Blaze in Bowmanville's historic downtown ruins stores, apartments, leaves 15 homeless
Apr 30, 2008 04:30 AM
Henry Stancu
Staff Reporter
A stubborn day-long fire may have ravaged a 100-year-old building in Bowmanville's historic downtown core, but the community will rebuild the structure and Saturday's Maplefest street festival, which annually draws about 20,000 people, will go on.
"Maplefest is a very important event. People come from the other side of Toronto and as far east as Kingston. It means a lot to the community," said Clarington Mayor Jim Abernethy, while fire crews doused the last hot spots and darkness began to fall last night.
Four stores and eight apartments above the main two-storey structure were damaged by the blaze that broke out in Lang's Photo about 8:30 a.m.
Fire department officials believe the blaze started in either the basement or the main floor of the building.
Brett Graves, who owns the photo store was visibly shaken.
"Luckily no one was hurt," he said.
"This has been a very nasty fire. By 10:30 a.m., everybody thought it was under control, but the wind picked up and breached one of the walls and it spread next door," the mayor said.
The blaze jumped to the store to the east, gutting Second Chance, a new and used clothing store run by Bethesda House, a women's and children's shelter.
Ron Hooper, who runs nearby Hooper's Jewellers, was one of the first to spot the fire.
"The plastic on the front caught fire and the heat was so intense, we were standing across the road and could feel it from there," Hooper said.
No one was hurt, but about 15 people living in the apartments lost everything and were left homeless.
With the help of Durham Region Social Services, the Red Cross, and the town itself, some of those people were provided with accommodation last night, and they and others will be assisted in finding new places to live in the area in coming days.
About 55 firefighters assisted by crews from Oshawa and Ontario Power Generation's Darlington nuclear facility worked throughout the day to quell the fire.
White foam, used to douse the flames, flowed down the street into the intersection and floated through the air, pushed by the high winds.
"In the morning, we'll assess what we have to do to get in there for the investigation," said Clarington fire chief Gord Weir.
"Hopefully we can get this quickly cleaned up and rebuilt and restore some type of façade that lends to that historic look which we're very proud of," Weir said.
"This building was built in 1867, the year of Confederation, in the style of early Canadiana.
"We're celebrating Bowmanville's 150th anniversary this year, and hopefully something can be done to salvage it because it's quite important to us," Abernethy said.
The structure housed the area's first telephone company.
"Sure, this is going to dampen it (Maplefest), but the municipality will pull it together," Weir added.
Saturday's Maplefest street festival will be held on the closed-off streets of the downtown core.
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