Finding positives from a devastating loss
Denturist talks about fire that destroyed his downtown Welland office in April
Five months ago, denturist Eric Kemp lost his two cats, almost all of his possessions, his apartment, and the building that was home to his denture clinic to a devastating fire.
But he knows it could have been worse, that he could have been seriously injured or killed in the blaze.
“When they say you have three minutes to get out, you have three minutes to get out,” said Kemp, talking about the fire at 135 East Main St. in Welland this past April.
It was April 13, and Kemp had returned to his clinic around 2 p.m. after having lunch with a friend.
“I had to do some paperwork to renew my licence and enter some of my continuing education information. I finished around 3 p.m. and went upstairs to my apartment. I was watching a movie that was on or something like that when I heard the smoke alarms going off downstairs.”
Kemp said at times the smoke alarms would go off because of dust inside the old building, just west of Hellems Avenue on the south of East Main. He walked out on a second-floor deck and all he could see was smoke coming from underneath.
“I smelled something earlier … you know the smell of a plastic garden hose? Something like that, a plastic smell. I realize now it was probably something melting down there, whatever kickstarted the fire.”
Kemp ran down his staircase and opened the back door to his main-floor lab.
“As soon as I did that I just got this draft that surged … it singed my hair. I looked like a coal miner when I got out.
“I knew I had a fire extinguisher, but I didn’t know the full scope of what was going on.”
In his lab, Kemp had materials — used to make dentures for his patients — with a low flashpoint, meaning they acted as accelerants during the fire.
With floor-to-ceiling smoke already filling the lab, Kemp said he was in a bit of a panic and ran back outside to call 911.
“I guess other people did as well because the fire department got here pretty quick.
“My cats were upstairs and I went up the back steps and into my apartment to get them.”
Kemp wanted to rescue the two cats that had been with him for the last six years. They travelled with him when he worked in Alberta and again when he came home to Ontario.
Once in his apartment, he was again faced with floor to ceiling smoke.
“I was in there for maybe 10 to 15 seconds and made it about 20 feet (six metres),” he said, adding the full length of his building is about 100 feet (30.5 metres).
The thick, heavy black smoke left him with a stinging throat and burning eyes.
“In the moment, people forget about their limitations,” he said of his attempt to rescue his cats.
Running back outside and down the stairs, Kemp called his parents and said when he looked back after that quick phone call, all he could see was flames “chewing up into the second floor.”
He said the building went up like a tinderbox.
“All that old wood in there, sitting there drying,” said Kemp, who found paperwork dating back to 1938 for the building’s original boiler system.
Taken to Welland hospital by Niagara Emergency Medical Services paramedics, Kemp said blood work and X-rays were done and he was treated for light smoke inhalation.
“I signed myself out and went back to the fire and spoke with a fire prevention officer about what happened.”
He said Welland and District SPCA found his two cats at the front of his building. Though his cats died, he was able to cremate them, giving him a bit of closure.
“One of the other issues I had in the apartment was that I had about a dozen firearms. Niagara Regional Police was able to get them all out, they did a great job.”
Kemp had nothing but praise for firefighters, paramedics, police and the SPCA and how they treated him.
After the fire was over, Kemp said one of the bigger hurdles, other than trying to figure out how to get his denture clinic back in operation, was dealing with insurance.
He didn’t want to name the company, but said after about three or four months he was told his claim was denied and was sent a refund for his policy.
While the fire service estimated damage in excess of $500,000, Kemp was told by an insurance adjuster that it would take at least $700,000 to fix up the building.
With people telling him to sue the insurance company, Kemp said he remembered a fight his parents had with their insurer after a flooded basement and how long it took to resolve.
After speaking with his lawyer, the prospect of taking on his insurance company in court was not one he wanted to face.
“I thought, ‘No, I’d rather focus on my work and what I can do to rebuild.’ ”
With nowhere to live, Kemp moved in with his parents and said it wasn’t an easy time for him.
“It was rough … I felt lost and thought, ‘What the heck do I do now.’ ”
With his family steeped in dentistry — his grandmother was a dentist who came over from Russia, his uncle is a dental technician and his aunt a dental hygienist — Kemp was able to get back to work
Using his uncle’s lab, he worked on patients’ teeth lost in the fire.
“I had a couple of dozen people on the go, people who had already made deposits on their teeth. I was able to set up my assistant in her home and she booked house calls for me so I could restart my work.”
Kemp said Dr Nabil Malak, a dentist he worked with on surgical cases, offered him an extra chair at Peace Park Dental in downtown Pelham. He called Malak a great man.
“It’s a nice new office right downtown and it’s still close to Welland for all of my patients. I have loyal patients.”
He said the reaction from his patients has been good, with people happy he’s back to work and looking after them.
Sadly, some patients used the fire as an excuse to skip paying him for work he’d done, Kemp said.
Though his practice is once again underway, the denturist said his assistant had to move on for personal reasons.
“She was half my business … we had it good at my office in Welland. We were open four days a week and still busy.”
Kemp, who passed his denturist exams in 2013, preferred working fewer days a week at his Welland practice.
“I worked out west, in Calgary and Edmonton, for a high-capacity clinic and I didn’t want to end up like that here. I didn’t want to burn myself out.”
Being in the Pelham dental office has made things a bit easier for Kemp business wise.
But his empty, fire-scarred building in downtown Welland weighs on his mind and he feels bad about leaving the city with another derelict building.
“I’m stuck with this building, Welland is stuck with this building … it’s downtown and it’s boarded up. I know the city is trying to revitalize things.”
Kemp is exploring his options for the two-storey structure, which he purchased back in 2016 after moving home from out west. He was in the process of renovations on his second-floor apartment and taking care of issues in the basement and main floor.
“I might sell it … I want to try and do something there.”