The St. John’s Fire Department responded to a report of an explosion on Charlotte Street around 2 a.m. Friday. Bricks had fallen from the first two floors of the three-story building at 269 Charlotte St., according to Platoon Leader Josh Hennessy. Crews conducted an investigation to evacuate the building. No injuries were reported. Charlotte Street is blocked by Queen Street, Queen Square South and Harding Street and is closed to all vehicular traffic. Also, no foot traffic is allowed from 265 to 271 Charlotte St. Demolition work is expected to take place Sunday morning, according to Hennessey. “Until the demolition work is completed and an assessment is carried out, we expect the area to remain closed to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic,” he said. The Saint John Fire Department closed the streets 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 there was an explosion. The Canadian Red Cross says it is helping a woman and two children from one apartment and a couple with three children, including a four-month-old infant, from a second unit. “Due to a lack of hotel rooms in the Saint John area during the New Brunswick Day holiday, these three adults and six children had to travel to Moncton to stay with relatives or friends, but they had no transportation, so the Red Cross also covered taxi fares from Saint John to Moncton,” communications director Dan Bedell wrote in a statement.
The tenant returns to the building today
Mila Deblois, one of the tenants displaced from Charlotte Street, is returning to Saint John from Moncton today with her two children. She said her 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 tending to her baby. According to Deblois, her friend heard a noise like something falling. A little later a knock was heard at the door. It was the fire crews, who said they had to evacuate. Deblois doesn’t yet know what caused the bricks to fall, though she said there were a lot of them on the road. She added that most of them fell from a neighboring unit while her unit is fine. She said she was worried at first when she stood on the road and wondered where she and her family were going. Fortunately, they had some friends in Moncton and the Canadian Red Cross paid for the transportation. “The kids are all fine, we’re all fine,” he said. He said the building was old to begin with and he was not at all surprised by the incident.
