Some residents return home weeks after deadly apartment fire in Collingwood
Some residents at the Shannon Towers in Collingwood are starting to return home after being forced to flee from their apartments after a fire last month.
No cause has been determined in the fatal fire that occurred on September 20, where both 61-year-old Mary McOuat and 89-year-old Ruth Hall died in the fire.
Ann Wells was dropped off at her apartment on Saturday by a taxi. She says her day is a difficult one as she returns after losing a friend in the fire.
"It's a little upsetting because my very good friend passed away in the fire," Wells says, referring to Ruth Hall. "The only thing I'm not ready for is going back in and missing my friend."
You can still see the burn marks on the building and the wooden boards covering broken windows at the apartments.
Douglas Stevenson has lived in the building for 22 years and has stayed in a hotel for the past two weeks.
He says he was thrilled when he was told he could return to his home.
"I couldn't wait to grab my stuff and get out of there," says Steveson.
"I'm on the first floor, and the burned apartment is on the second floor, and the apartment beside it is also (as) I understand heavily smoke damaged, and the one below it is heavily water damaged."
Twenty-nine of the 37 units are now livable. But it's not known when the rest of the tenants will return home.
Rosetta Whipps also moved back on Saturday. She's lived in the apartment for two years.
"I am very happy that some people can get back in their homes and sleep in their own residents and carry on with their lives."
According to Realstar Management, eight units are still not available to tenants. Four of the eight sustained heavy damage and could take some time to repair, and it could be a month or two before the other four are ready.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.