Several bricks fell from the front of a building and onto Charlotte Street in St. John on Friday night, forcing the evacuation of 12 tenants.
The St. John Fire Department responded to a report of an explosion on Charlotte Street around 2 a.m. Friday. According to Platoon Chief Josh Hennessy, bricks fell from the first two floors of the three-story building at 269 Charlotte St.
The teams conducted a search to evacuate the building. No injuries were reported.
Charlotte Street is barricaded from Queen Street, Queen Square South and Harding Street and is closed to vehicular traffic. Also, no foot traffic is allowed from 265 to 271 Charlotte St.
Demolition is expected to take place Sunday morning, according to Hennessey.
“Until this demolition work is completed and an assessment is carried out, we expect this area to remain closed to all vehicles and pedestrians,” he said.
The St. John Fire Department closed the roads around the building on Charlotte Street. (Jericho Knopp)
CBC has contacted St. John’s police for more information. There is nothing in the statement to indicate whether an explosion took place.
The Canadian Red Cross says it is assisting a woman and two children from one apartment and a couple with three children, including a four-month-old baby, from a second ward.
“Due to a lack of hotel rooms in the St. John area over the New Brunswick Bank Holiday long weekend, these three adults and six children had to travel to Moncton to stay with relatives or friends, but had no means of transportation, so the Red cross also covered taxi fares from St. John to Moncton,” communications director Dan Bedell wrote in a statement.
The tenant is moving back into the building today
Mila Deblois, one of the tenants evicted from Charlotte Street, is returning to St. John from Moncton today with her two children.
She said the landlord told her it was safe to re-enter the building.
Deblois said she did not hear or see an explosion.
Her friend, who was visiting Deblois with her children, was awake and taking care of her baby. According to Deblois, her friend heard a noise like something falling.
Shortly after, there was a knock at the door. It was the fire crews who said they had to evacuate.
Deblois still doesn’t know what caused the bricks to fall, although he said there are a lot of them on the street. She added that most of them fell from a neighboring device, while her device was fine.
She said she was worried at first as she stood on the street wondering where she and her family would go. Luckily, they had friends in Moncton and the Canadian Red Cross paid for the transportation.
“All the kids are fine, we’re all fine,” she said.
She said the building was old to begin with and she wasn’t entirely surprised by the incident.
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