Home for Thanksgiving?
Some St. James Town residents could return in early October; others might wait four months
The long weekend finds hundreds of residents from a St. James Town building hit by a fire out of their units, but there’s a slim hope some of them will be back in their apartments when the next long weekend arrives.
“We have a soft target of Thanksgiving, early October,” said building manager Doug Sartell. The building is made up of two towers with an adjoining elevator lobby, and Sartell said most of the damage occurred in the southern tower of the building.
“So, as we proceed through repairs for the whole building, we’re focusing on the north tower as a special project within the project, to get those repairs done and get those residents home quicker,” he added.
Hundreds of residents were evacuated over a week ago when a six-alarm fire broke at 650 Parliament St.
Nearly 700 of those residents have been housed in hotels across the city, in an emergency effort of the city and the Red Cross.
This long weekend will see the residents check out hotels to find their own accommodations as repairs go on.
The city has said emergency shelter will be available for those in need, at Regent Park Community Centre and at Wellesley Community Centre.
Angry residents, supported by community support group Acorn, held a protest Friday in front of the building management office, where they voiced their concerns about the challenges of having no residence and not knowing for how long the situation will persist.
“They are saying we have to find family and friends or go to the community centre. How do you live in a community centre when you have children?” said Kumar, whose family of four has been housed at the Marriott hotel but had to check out Saturday.
Sartell said there has been extensive damage to the south tower of the building, and it could take up to four months before the repair work is finished.
He said the worst damage happened on the ninth and the 15th floor, where there was “substantial” impact on the electrical systems. Some of the apartment doors were also destroyed, and there has been significant smoke damage, he said.
“We have sections of the building that haven’t changed since the day before the incident in the north side, despite smoke migration,” said Sartell, expressing hope that recovery work will happen faster.
He disputed claims that the fire may have been due to a failure on the part of management to ensure maintenance and fire inspections are conducted as required.
“The area where this fire started is our main electrical room, where our main fire alarm panel is contained,” he said. “That room is visited everyday by staff, by fire alarm technicians. It gets visual inspections everyday. If anything had been out of the ordinary, my staff would have reported it immediately.”
Earlier this week John Tory urged Torontonians to step up and donate whatever they can to assist the displaced people. Red Cross is handling the financial donations, while two grassroots organizations, Community Matters Toronto and Community Corner, receive and sort out clothing and school supply donations.
Sartell said he’s sympathetic of the ordeal residents are going through, noting his own administrative assistant and her children and grandchildren, as well as five other staff members, live in the same building and have been displaced.
“We understand the urgency of the situation. We have 568 extraordinary families that are dealing with a most difficult situation,” Sartell said.
“I would tell them right off the bat, anything you can do under your control to secure a place, a safe place for your family to live, we implore you to do it. Go to your families, go to your friends, yes, there will be an inconvenience, but you’ll have a roof over your head.”
Sartell said he would honour requests from residents to break their leases “with 60 seconds notice,” if they were able to secure a new lease in a different home.
Rent reimbursement is ready for anyone who paid rent between Aug. 21 and Aug. 31, Sartell said. No resident will be asked to pay rent until they move back when repairs are finished, he said. Two elevators have been working over the past few days, one reserved for repair workers to move materials up and down, and the other being used by residents who still need to retrieve anything from their units.
The last opportunity for residents to pick up belongings from their apartments will be Monday at 8 p.m.
“We have 568 extraordinary families that are dealing with a most difficult situation.” DOUG SARTELL BUILDING MANAGER