Donations pour in for residents displaced by New Westminster apartment fire

An area resident watches as New Westminster fire fighters pour water on a three-storey apartment building in New Westminster on Saturday morning Photo by Jason Payne /PNG

Article content

Nebyou Getahun came back to his New Westminster apartment on Monday hoping to retrieve the documents that prove he’s allowed to be in Canada.

Article content

Nothing seems intact of the corner unit he was renting, except the balcony railing.

Article content

Article content

The building at 905 Fourth Ave. was gutted by fire on Friday evening. The whole property is fenced off now, and nobody is allowed inside.

Article content

Article content

Getahun and his family arrived in Canada about three months ago from South Africa. His wife had taken their two boys, nine and four, to a park on Friday afternoon. Then someone called and told him there’d been an accident at the building.

Article content

Article content

Everything they owned was in the apartment, including his permanent residency papers and all his identification. He has photos of them on his phone, but doesn’t know if that’s enough.

Article content

“I feel bad because I’ve got two children, and I don’t know what to do,” he said.

Article content

Getahun stood at the fence, waiting for the landlord. With him was Kebede Abate, who identified himself as president of the Ethiopian Canadian Human Rights Association of B.C., pressing for someone to let Getahun in for his papers. Those documents, he said, are the man’s life. Abate said a number of African newcomers lived in the building.

Article content

A property manager came instead of the landlord and told them what security had been telling people for two days: The site isn’t safe, and only authorities can go in.

Article content

New Westminster fire fighters pour water on a three-storey apartment building at 905 4th Avenue in New Westminster on Saturday morning. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG

Article content

The fire started around 1:30 p.m. Friday and displaced an estimated 150 people, the City of New Westminster said. Firefighters faced burning units and residents trapped on balconies, and brought several down on ladders. It wasn’t under control until about 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Two firefighters and one resident were taken to hospital on Friday. The firefighters have since been sent home.

Article content

Article content

On Monday, the building was a shell. Cars still sat parked underneath. In the wreckage one could make out a fridge, a washing machine, a chair, a couch, a few mattresses. Water dripped into the parking lot and the smoke smell hadn’t gone. Somewhere inside an alarm was still chirping.

Article content

Article content

Pavan Kaur, hired to guard the site, has watched residents come back. They arrive with red eyes, she said.

Article content

“People had their life savings up in there,” Kaur said.

Article content

The security guards are on the scene 24-7 and are on the lookout for smoke. She said firefighters returned Saturday night when smoke reappeared and stayed about six hours.

Article content

At the Lord Kelvin Elementary School gym, the response was piling up on the floor. Clothing for every season and every age, along with shoes, diapers and hygiene supplies. The stage was overflowing with donation bags nobody had opened yet. About a dozen volunteers were sorting Monday at noon, and people kept arriving with more, even though collection has been paused since Sunday for lack of room.

Article content

Mary Trentadue, who runs the New Westminster Neighbourhood House, said a former member saw the fire on social media and asked if they could help. She phoned the school board at 10 a.m. Saturday, and the gym was available by 1 p.m.