Troy Daniels came home from work on Thursday to fire trucks surrounding his residence above Diamond Dogs Vinyl on Ontario Street.
At first firefighters told him that he, his wife, and cats did not need to evacuate.
“And about 10 minutes later my wife noticed smoke coming up from our bathroom, coming up from the floor underneath,” Daniels said. “So we grabbed our cats and took off.”
On Thursday, the Stratford Fire Department responded to reports of smoke coming from the roof of La Diperie, located at 110 Ontario St.
People and animals were evacuated.
Entering from the rear of the building, crews saw “a lot of charring, a lot of smoke, not a lot of fire,” fire chief Neil Anderson said.
A hole was cut in the front facade of the building so that the fire could be fought on both sides, and fire crews ultimately extinguished the fire.
Anderson said that with so many factors he is unable to give an estimate of when the cause will be determined – each fire is different after all.
He said that the building has knob-and-tube wiring, though he is unsure if that was the cause.
The affected buildings are not accessible after the fire, due mainly to harmful toxins or organic compounds in the air. Residents were unable to return home that night.
Daniels told StratfordToday that he was told Red Cross would be contacting him and his family for help considering they are unable to return just yet.
