Evacuated residents wait outside their apartment building on Rivard Ave. in Windsor after a fire, October 7, 2015.  (Photo by Adelle Loiselle)Evacuated residents wait outside their apartment building on Rivard Ave. in Windsor after a fire, October 7, 2015. (Photo by Adelle Loiselle)
Windsor

Residents Return Home After Fire

The Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation is counting its blessings after a fire at a seniors apartment building on Rivard Ave. in Windsor displaced 32 residents.

Public affairs manager Kari Schofield says most of the residents had insurance.

"That is just a relief for any property manager," she says. "It does ensure that accommodation would be met."

Most of the residents forced out of their units by smoke and water damage spent the Thanksgiving weekend with family, although the Red Cross was called to house two tenants.

As of Monday morning, most of those residents were allowed back in their units, but Schofield says four apartments are still not fit for habitation.

"It's not just enough to dry the units out. We have to check drywall, floorboards, flooring."

She says the units will also be checked for mould.

Three people were taken to the hospital after last Wednesday's fire, but only one suffered minor smoke inhalation.

Fire investigators say the $1-million fire was accidental.

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