‘I really thought we were next,’ says studio owner
The cleanup will take about two weeks, but close to 50 guitars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in recording equipment at Grant Avenue Studio came out virtually unscathed after a fire forced at least nine people out of their homes and caused more than $1 million in damage.
The blaze broke out at 34 Grant Ave. about 4:50 p.m. Monday, but quickly spread to homes on either side.
Three of the firefighters battling the blaze were 10 minutes away from their retirement, after a combined almost 100 years on the job, when they responded to the call, said Hamilton fire spokesperson Claudio Mostacci.
“Each one of them was very impactful on the outcome of that fire,” he said.
Both 34 and 36 Grant Ave. — where the roofs partially collapsed — were heavily damaged.
Fire crews were forced out of both homes because of the heat, flames and structural integrity.
One house away is Grant Avenue Studio, a more than 40-yearold recording and mixing studio that has played host to Johnny Cash, U2 and Gordon Lightfoot.
“Ours is going, too. I think I just retired,” studio owner Bob Doidge recalled saying. “I really thought we were next.”
Producer and recording engineer Amy King was in the middle of a recording session when the fire broke out. Her first thought was the 22 unfinished recording projects stored on hard drives in a safe in the building.
But crews were able to stop the flames from making their way inside the studio, which sustained minimal damage, including to the side of the roof and water in the basement.
After finding no one in the three homes that caught fire, firefighters turned their attention to Grant Avenue Studio, where they started covering equipment inside and moving guitars and gold records downstairs before covering them with tarps in the studio.
“We’re very thrilled because last night at 5 o’clock, we didn’t think we were going to make it,” Doidge said Tuesday while expressing his gratitude to the fire department for their actions.
Mostacci said this kind of response is part of the fire department’s typical “salvage operation.”
When items like furniture might be damaged by water, crews try to protect them by shielding them with tarps or diverting the water, he said.
“We always do that to try to protect people’s property.”
The extensive damage to the other three houses — two of which were multi-unit dwellings — left nine people unable to return to their homes, but no one was injured, Mostacci said.
Grant Avenue Studio and Birchway Sound are collecting gift cards to help the neighbours affected by the fire.
“We have homes to go to,” said King. “Those guys don’t.”
Gift cards can be dropped off at eitherof their two locations, which are 38 Grant Ave. and 47 Grant Ave., respectively.
The Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal has been called in to determine what caused the fire.