CHARLOTTETOWN — A refugee family with three preschoolers safely fled a fire in their home in Charlottetown this morning.
The mother is originally from Columbia and her eight children range in age from 2 1/2 months to 14 years. The mother and three youngest children were home
at the time of the mid-morning fire but escaped injury. Other children
were in school at the time.
Staff at neighbouring Purity Dairy took in the family as firefighters battled a smouldering fire in a duplex on Edward Street.
Charlottetown Station 1 Fire Chief Moe Sherry says the bunk beds and a single bed in the same upstairs room caught fire sending smoke through the second floor.
Firefighters quickly contained the fire after getting a call around 9:45 a.m.
Sherry said “there was a lot of smoke but you couldn’t really see any flames.’’
He says the duplex suffered extensive smoke damage upstairs but a resident of the adjacent duplex believes her home for the most part dodged the bullet.
Sherry believes the refugee family will not be able to return to live in their home “for a day or two, maybe longer than that.’’
The city’s fire inspector is on the scene investigating the cause of the fire.
The Canadian Red Cross has arranged emergency hotel accommodations,
meals and clothing for the woman and children. The cause of the fire at 47 Edward Street is under investigation by the P.E.I. Fire Marshal's Office and Charlottetown fire department.