50 Yorkton residents displaced by apartment fire

Yorkton Fire Protective Services has determined where a fire that claimed an historic Yorkton building last week started, but not the cause.

On the evening of December 2, the blaze began in a storage room in the basement of the southwest wing of the Yorkton Manor apartments below the original Queen Victoria Hospital.

All 50 residents of the building were safely evacuated. Several had to be rescued by the responders using the department’s ladder truck. Only two tenants had to be treated for smoke inhalation. There were no other injuries, but most lost everything they owned.

“We are thankful that there were no serious injuries to tenants and that everyone who lived there is safe,” said Mayor Bob Maloney.

Firefighters fought the stubborn blaze throughout the night. By noon Wednesday, the smouldering remains of the building were still billowing huge white clouds of steam and firefighters were unable to start the investigation because of lingering smoke and heat.

Almost immediately as news started to spread by social media, a Facebook page, Yorkton Manor Helping Hand, popped up to help the displaced persons. The Howard Johnson Inn stepped up to temporarily house the victims and the Red Cross set up a Welcome Centre to help the residents with emergency supplies. The Salvation Army also collected donations of clothes, furniture and money.

Within days, Avenue Living, the Calgary-based company that owned the building had managed to relocate everyone to more long-term lodgings.

One of the people who lost everything in the fire was Dean Samborski, who says that the only things he owned after the fire were the clothes he was wearing at the time.

“I was sitting at home at around 9 o-clock and the fire alarm went off and a guy was running down the hallway going ‘Fire! Fire! Fire!’ so I got out of the building.”

The big loss for him was his medical scooter, needed because he only has the use of one arm and one leg, after a motorcycle accident left one side unusable. While he has insurance on his belongings, until he gets the equipment replaced it is difficult to get around.

Samborski said while there are some practical worries that come along with replacing everything, he has already moved on.

“It doesn’t bother me, it’s gone so it’s gone, you can’t live for yesterday you have to live for tomorrow.”

The investigation into the fire is ongoing. So far, there is nothing suspicious about it, said Trevor Morrisey, Yorkton’s fire chief.

-With files from Devin Wilger