Fairwinds Lodge retirement home in Sarnia welcomed the community back Saturday, 10 months after fire damaged the Michigan Avenue building.
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The fire in an attic of one of the building’s wings shortly after 11 pm Jan. 15 LEDs to the evacuation of its 120 residents who were sheltered temporarily and then needed to find new accommodations because of the damage.
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A few weeks after the fire, the retirement home’s owner announced the building would be repaired and the work that followed allowed most of the site to reopen earlier this month. General manager Tina Mel said Saturday occupancy has reached 40 per cent.
“We reopened on Nov. 6 and welcomed our residents back to the building,” Mel said. “It was an absolutely amazing day.”
An open house and ribbon-cutting were held Saturday to celebrate the reopening of most of the building and thank the community for its support.
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“We have been so blessed with all the community partners,” Mel said.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley and Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey were there to take part in the ribbon-cutting.
“The last time I saw many of these people was at 4 am” on the morning of the fire at an evacuation center at Lambton College, Bradley said.
“It was stunning,” Bradley said about the fact all the residents were safely evacuated.
“It was a miracle, it really was,” he said.
Firefighters from Point Edward, St. Clair Township and even a crew from Port Huron, Mich., were called in to assist city firefighters who battled the blaze and joined paramedics, police and staff at the home in carrying out the evacuation.
The cause of the fire was determined to be accidental.
Mel said more residents are scheduled to move in during the coming weeks.
“We have been incredibly busy with tours and it has been wonderful to bring people back to the building,” she said.
“We’ve been welcoming returning residents back to the building and new friends as well.”
So far, 71 of 113 units are open again and the rest are expected to be available by early summer, Mel said.
“We have about 10 full-time employees back,” she said. “As we grow, we’ll be welcoming more to the team.”
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