Three Chatham families are taking in their losses following a fire that engulfed a multi-unit dwelling at 49 Grant St. in Chatham.
Fire crews were called to the residence late Wednesday afternoon. Initial reports indicated that children were in the house at the time, however, a sweep by firefighters found that no one was inside. Emergency responders were able to locate all of the residents and firefighters were eventually able to put out the blaze.
Officials with the Chatham-Kent fire department reported that the blaze caused approximately $400,000 worth of damages. A cause has not been determined but the fire is not deemed suspicious.
Once the initial situation was taken care of, Chatham-Kent Victim Services and the Canadian Red Cross stepped in to help the 15 people who lost their homes and belongings in the fire.
"Crews worked swiftly to clear the homes and ensure everyone was safe, we are grateful to the police and EMS crews on scene who worked incredibly hard to support the firefighting operations and thankfully conclude this incident without any reports of injuries," said Fire Chief Bob Crawford in a statement. "We are also grateful for our partners at Enbridge, Entegrus, Victim Services and the Canadian Red Cross for their help which was invaluable, we had a very dangerous situation to handle and we rely heavily on these supports to keep the community and our first responders safe."
In the meantime, Chatham-Kent residents are being asked to donate what they can to the three families affected by the blaze. Katherine Witty and Heidi Bajcar have teamed up to help the families, which include four children and an infant. Witty is the godmother to a 12-month-old and best friend of one of the residents affected, while Bajcar is a nanny to the infant.
"[We're asking for] really anything that you would use in your house. We have a couple of donations of furniture coming in, we have a lot of clothes coming in right now," said Witty. "They've lost everything, all three families."
A GoFundMe page has been set up with a target of $15,000. Witty said the funds raised will be split between the families at $5,000 each.
"They're so overwhelmed with the trauma of losing literally everything... we just didn't want them to have that burden of worrying about replacing everything right away and just have somebody else to help guide them through that," said Bajcar.
At the time of the fire, Witty said a lot of tears were shed.
"You don't realize how much [a fire] impacts a family until it happens to someone who is really close to you," said Witty. "We just wanted to make sure everybody was okay and that they had what they needed until the other support services and whatnot came in."
That being said, the two are thankful that everyone is safe.
"We are just so grateful that everybody got out. You can replace material things..." said Bajcar.
"Chatham-Kent Police Services were amazing last night and between them and EMS... they definitely helped keep us all calm and collected," said Witty. "The fire department was amazing, they did their job perfectly! We're just so thankful for our community."
The GoFundMe page includes clothing sizes for people who are interested in donating items. Witty said donations will be stored in a safe location until the families relocate and are able to accept the items.
In the meantime, a charitable road hockey game will be held Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Grace Christian Reformed Church on Tweedsmuir Avenue in Chatham. Donations will be accepted to support one of the families with three children, ranging in age from 5 to 17-months-old.
