Crews continue to clean up the mess left behind from Friday’s downtown fire.
As a result of the fire, Main Street and Oak Street, from Ferguson to Wyld, were closed off as crews fought the fire and later had debris taken away. As of Sunday, both roads were back open.
The blaze, which started burning around 12:30am was contained to the buildings between The Cedar Tree restaurant, and Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli’s office.
The Cedar Tree, through a Facebook post, said they experienced some smoke damage and plan to reopen after the holidays on January 6.
The same cannot be said for Fedeli’s constituency office.
“It’s all gone basically,” Fedeli explained. “We’ve taken a few things that weren’t water-soaked, or smoke damaged. We’re gone from the office now, and are out actively looking for a new location. We would love to go back into that office if and when it gets renovated, but it’s not habitable right now.”
Fedeli adds that they hope to be in a temporary location, at the least, by January 6.
“We will not be back in our office in 2020,” Fedeli stated. “In terms of a temporary location, we just don’t know how long it will take to find our 2020 home and whether it needs to have work done on it. We don’t want to move twice.”
“We don’t have access to anything right now,” Fedeli continued. “Our computers can’t be turned on because of the water damage, so they’re being shipped to Toronto to have their hard drives removed so we are frozen out right now.”
Fedeli does commend the quick action of the North Bay Fire and Emergency Services and is thankful no one got seriously injured.
“We had one firefighter who had frostbite and is at home,” Fedeli said. “But of all the people that were living above our office and other offices, nobody was hurt. There are a lot of people who are displaced. I talked to a mother of one of the people who lived above my office and they are traumatized.”
“This is a horrible thing for anybody to go through, especially so close to Christmas and now they have to look for spaces,” Fedeli continued. “From our office perspective, it’s just stuff.”
Fire Chief Jason Whiteley, who was on the ground with the crews for much of the early portion of the fight, sent out a thank you letter.
“On behalf of North Bay Fire and Emergency Services and the North Bay Professional Fire Fighters we would like to thank all the citizens and businesses of North Bay for their generosity and moral support as we fought a stubborn fire under challenging conditions last week,” it read. “The coffee, donuts, and other treats that were dropped off at the fire scene were greatly appreciated. Thank you!
The letter continues, “While we were given accolades for the work we did, an incredible team was formed around us. We must also acknowledge and thank several other agencies for their hard work and support as well; the North Bay Police, the North Bay Paramedic services, North Bay Hydro, Enbridge Gas, Red Cross, as well as several City departments including Transit, Public Works, Building and our fleet mechanics especially fire mechanic Billy Reed.”
“To all of these other agencies involved in battling a blaze of this magnitude, thank you from North Bay Fire and Emergency Services and the North Bay Professional Fire Fighters! We are quite fortunate and proud to live in and serve this fantastic community. We wish everyone a very happy, and of course a fire-safe holiday season!”