Fire shuts down Saint John butcher for holidays
An electrical fire has forced a Saint John meat shop to close for the holidays, leaving more than a dozen low-income families without their Christmas orders.
The fire at Albert's Meats on Churchill Boulevard broke out Saturday night. By Sunday morning, manager Tyrell Stone was tallying the damage.
"The inside of the store is just destroyed," Stone told CBC News.
Albert's Meats partners with a local charity, PULSE, to deliver meat packages to seniors and low-income families who can't get to the store.
A number of orders went out on Friday. However, between 15 and 25 families asked the store to hold onto their turkeys, hams and vegetables until Dec. 23, when the shop was supposed to close for Christmas.
"Now we're not sure what to do because the families that we were going to help are obviously still going to need help," Stone said.
Stone said he doesn't know the full extent of the damage. The main power conduit to the entire strip mall was destroyed in the fire, which means there's no electricity in the whole building.
Without power, Stone can't check the equipment to see what works.
"I'm almost sure we're going to lose at least one piece of equipment, if not more," he said.
He said the fire marshal told him they had to cut a hole in the roof.
Albert's Meats plans to reopen when it can. Stone said they're already looking at their options, whether it's rebuilding at the current location or temporarily relocating somewhere else.
