Woodstock waiting for report on historic building's condition after fire
The mayor of Woodstock hopes to salvage the facade of an historic building destroyed by fire on Tuesday and rebuild the downtown heritage area left gutted by the blaze.
The fire in the Rose Building on Main Street displaced 22 people and at least two businesses, but nobody was injured.
Mayor Arthur Slipp was briefed on Tuesday night on the extent of the damage to the Rose Building and the two adjacent structures.
On Wednesday morning, he was expecting a report from structural engineers to determine whether some of the brick buildings can be restored, or if they will have to be demolished.
"It certainly would be a major loss if it's not safe enough to restore," Slipp told CBC's Information Morning Fredericton.
Slipp hopes to at least protect the facade of the Rose Building, even if the structure behind it has to be replaced.
"Certainly, I think, most people would prefer to have that as a possibility, but at this point in time we don't know if that's going to even be possible," he said.
The mayor wasn't sure about the cost of the damage and said the town is still dealing with the shock.
Mayor thanks emergency responders
Slipp thanked the Canadian Red Cross for helping the displaced tenants and the fire departments of nearby communities who helped the town's fire department to battle the blaze.
Officials at the Red Cross said they processed 23 people, although the need for assistance in the coming days is unknown.
"We haven't met with anybody officially today but we will continue to monitor them. Our program is to provide assistance for 72 hours, and then we would re-assess at that point whether or not additional assistance would be required," said Lorne Drake, a disaster management volunteer with the Western Valley Red Cross.
Slipp called the fire a major event for the community, but said it could have been worse.
"From an operations point of view, things went very well fighting the fire, and we were able to maintain it to the one building, although there is damage to the adjacent ones," he said.
Firefighters from nearby Hartland, and from Houlton, Me., helped their Woodstock colleagues.
Slipp said the towns have an agreement to help each other out in the event of a major fire.
He said now the focus is on the reality of the clean-up and addressing security concerns.
"This is right on the sidewalk so there is no setback. So you are concerned about, is the structure going to be safe and present any dangers to pedestrians as we reopen for business today?"
But long-term, he says he hopes the downtown will bounce back.
"You are worried about what the impact will be in the long-term in the commercial centre," he said.
Historic hub of Woodstock
Slipp said the downtown is not only the commercial area, but also the historic hub of Woodstock.
"We do a lot of social events there," said Slipp.
"It is still shock for me, it is still shock for a number of residents, our business owners in the core will be concerned about the impact going forward on their businesses."
The downtown core of Woodstock was rebuilt before, he said.
That happened in the late 1880s after a major fire in the area in 1877.
