Watching a high-reach excavator rip apart the burnt walls of her parents’ unit was tough for Diana Hewett.
Watching a high-reach excavator rip apart the burnt walls of her parents’ unit was tough for Diana Hewett.
Her 87-year-old parents, Bob and Vera Hewett, were among the 120 seniors evacuated Sunday night from Fairwinds Lodge retirement home as a massive fire ripped through the roof of the facility.
“They don’t know that they’ve lost everything,” Hewett said while choking back tears.
The Sarnia resident lauded the emergency responders who helped her parents safely leave the home. Evacuated with nothing beyond the clothes they were wearing at the time, it’s been tough for them to process what’s happened since.
“They’re probably still in shock,” she said. “Traumatized, I guess, a little bit.”
Fire investigators had been focusing their probe on the northeast corner of the Michigan Avenue building – where the Hewetts had called home – and brought in heavy machinery to open up that heavily damaged section.
While investigators were focusing on two possible ignition sources, Sarnia fire officials said Wednesday evening the Ontario Fire Marshal investigators had concluded the blaze was “accidental.”
Mike Bird, the lead investigator with the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office, declined to comment earlier Wednesday due to a lack of an update from the previous day, when he said they were focusing on electrical components – potentially bathroom ceiling fans – in the attic area of the 1999-constructed building. A Sarnia fire official pointed out the investigation slows down at this point while they methodically search for a potential ignition source.
No cause of damage estimate has been given by officials since the blaze was extinguished Monday morning.
A spokesperson with Sienna Senior Living Inc., the Markham-based company that runs Fairwinds Lodge, said the company is focusing on the immediate needs of its residents amid the home’s ongoing closure. To help them out, a donation drive has been set up at Community of Christ Church. Personal-care items, clothing and other items needed on a daily basis are being collected at the Leckie Drive church between 9 am and 6 pm
“We appreciate the support from families, as well as community members and businesses who have all rallied to support residents during this challenging time,” the spokesperson said via email.
While donations were being accepted, various damaged items, such as rolls of carpet, were being carried from the home Wednesday by disposal crews and tossed in large dumpsters placed in the parking lot. The excavator was also removed from the area via a flatbed truck.
Most residents have now moved in with family or to a local hotel after being housed in emergency shelter at Lambton College overnight Monday.