Fire guts Grimsby businesses
Downtown establishments, apartments, historic building destroyed in Thursday afternoon fire
At least three businesses and one apartment in a historic, century-old building were gutted by a raging inferno that choked downtown Grimsby with thick smoke Thursday.
Businesses and residents in the area of Main and Elm streets were evacuated while Grimsby and West Lincoln firefighters fought for nearly six hours to prevent the blaze from spreading to nearby buildings.
Roads around the fire scene are expected to remain closed Friday as Grimsby Fire Department and the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office conduct an investigation into the cause of the fire.
Firefighters rescued two dogs from the apartment and there were no reported injuries.
The fire appears to have started about 1:20 p.m. at the back of the Dressing Room Salon and Day Spa at 16 Main St. at the corner of Elm Street.
Salon owner Louise Foster said her staff was alerted to the fire when a passerby burst through the salon’s back door.
“It was the boyfriend of a former employee,” Foster said. “He came in through the back door saying the building was on fire.”
Salon employee Sarah Wrabiutza said she was taken aback by the man’s warning.
“My first thought was it was a joke. But then I looked out back and saw the fire and I yelled, ‘Get the f--- out! There’s a fire!”
Salon employee Gigi Brienesse, alerted by Wrabiutza, also looked to the back of the salon and found that “everything was on fire.”
The flames were in an area Foster and Brienesse identified as the salon’s street-level patio. Foster said she has no idea how the fire started.
“Aside from the patio, there isn’t anything there. There is a big plastic recycling bin. We have that. And the electrical for the air-conditioning units,” she said. “I really don’t know what happened.”
While employees and clients of the Dressing Room evacuated safely, Brienesse said she was worried about two dogs living in the apartment above the salon.
She said the tenant was not at home.
“It was very upsetting. I remember watching his door melt,” she said. “The firefighters got here quickly and rescued the dogs. The poor dogs were screaming when they were brought out.”
For a time, firefighters were at the back of the salon and on the apartment balcony trying to knock the fire down.
Although smoke was pouring from the back of the building, the nearby outdoor market on Main Street continued with business as usual.
That would drastically change by 3:30 p.m,, however.
As a Grimsby firefighter deployed an aerial drone to investigate the fire, smoke began to pour out of the front of the salon. Within minutes, smoke was also seeping out of the spaces between the sidewalk and the building.
Firefighters were called away from the apartment balcony as smoke began to billow out of the doors and windows of the Pic Plus photo shop and Yoga Truly studio attached to the salon.
Fire crews tried to use water cannons deployed on Main Street to blast water through a secondstorey window, but were unable to penetrate the double-pane glass. A firefighter had to crawl through the smoke on a ladder and smash the window with a spear.
Even with direct access to the interior of the apartment through the window, the firefighters could not stop the blaze. Four ladder trucks were deployed to pour water on the building from above as firefighters worked to prevent the fire from spreading to other nearby buildings, including a Canada Post office.
The fired continued to intensify for hours. By 5 p.m. flames were bursting through the roof, sending thick clouds of smoke across the area surrounding Elm and Main streets. Part of the roof over the yoga studio collapsed, and siding and eavestroughs around the building melted and fell to the street.
Grimsby Fire Department and Niagara Regional Police evacuated the area, including the outdoor market, and shut down nearby businesses to protect people from the smoke.
Firefighters continued to battle the blaze until almost 7:30 p.m. when it was finally declared under control. Although the salon, photo shop, yoga studio and the apartment appeared to have been destroyed, the blaze did not spread to nearby buildings.
Fire crews were still on scene at press time.
A damage estimate was not available at press time but a Town of Grimsby media release issued late Thursday night said there was “extensive damage to a number of businesses and apartments.”
People affected by the fire can call 211 for further information. The town will hold a debriefing for people directly impacted by the fire today, although a place and time had not been determined at press time.