Apartment fire claims life of Whitney Pier resident
Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating cause of Wednesday afternoon blaze
A Wednesday afternoon apartment fire has resulted in the death of a lifelong resident of Whitney Pier.
The family of Donald (Donnie) Worobel has confirmed the 68-year-old man died after fire broke out in a four-unit, one-storey apartment building at the corner of Mt. Pleasant Street and Fisher Street, located a block east of Victoria Road, in the heart of the traditional working- class neighbourhood.
According to his sister, Stephanie Worobel, the former window-washer and labourer was a gentle man who especially loved his Toronto Blue Jays. She said he lived alone with two cats.
“He was a very kind-hearted man and he pretty much kept to himself — I can’t say anything bad about him,” she said, adding that her brother is the fourth sibling she’s lost over the past five years.
“But this seems more tragic because it was a fire.”
Firefighters were called to the fatal blaze at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday and quickly extinguished the fire. Members of the Cape Breton Regional Police Service were also on the scene as neighbours milled about behind the emergency vehicles that blocked off the Whitney Pier side street.
On Thursday morning, investigators were still on the scene, while a parade of curious motorists and pedestrians checked out the building, that while seemingly untouched on its exterior was heavily damaged by both flames and smoke on the inside.
Building owner Troy McCarthy, who is also a lifelong Whitney Pier resident, was called to the apartment building shortly after emergency crews responded to the fire, adding that two of the other three suites in the building were occupied, while the third was used as a storage area.
“This is really sad, I liked Donnie personally, he was single, softspoken and he was always pleasant in our dealings — he was in there for about two years and I never heard a bad word about him,” said McCarthy, who made the heartbreaking phone call to Worobel’s sister to let her know of the tragedy.
The Red Cross is involved and is assisting at least one of the displaced tenants.
On Thursday morning, the landlord was back at the scene where he spent time talking with the victim’s sister and other people in the closeknit neighbourhood.
“This is the Pier and people always come together in tough times — it’s a close community,” said McCarthy.
Meanwhile, the Fire Marshal’s Office and the police service’s Identification Section have been investigating the cause of the blaze, but have yet to release any details of their findings.