Pembroke's fire chief is appealing to the community to help find homes for 75 residents who are homeless after a raging fire destroyed a two-storey apartment building early Wednesday morning.
"We're hoping that the community is going to be able to support these people and find places for them to live," Pembroke Fire Chief Dan Herback told CTV Ottawa.
More than 25 firefighters from Pembroke and the surrounding area were called in to fight the flames as they quickly engulfed an apartment complex on Nelson Street at about 2:30 a.m.
Crews were still working to contain hot spots in the building late Wednesday afternoon.
Herback said all occupants of the building managed to get out before firefighters arrived on scene. No injuries were reported.
Residents say there were two fires at the building overnight. One was contained in a storage unit on the first floor of the building at about 1:30 a.m. An hour later, tenants say another fire broke out in a storage unit on the second floor.
It's estimated only three tenants living in the building have insurance.
The Salvation Army has already made arrangements to temporarily accommodate the residents. But the agency won't be able to house the residents for long.
"It's going to be fairly taxing on our community to try to find places for these people for permanent accommodation," said Herback.
The cause of the fire is now under investigation by the Ontario fire marshal's office.
