Residents left to fend for themselves after apartment balcony blaze damages multiple floors

A fire that started on the fifth floor balcony of an apartment building on 95 Hess St South has left it’s charring mark on surrounding balconies. Some of the residents couldn’t go back to their apartment for the night, including a man who is legally blind.

Robert Barnhardt lives on the seventh floor and his balcony was one of the units that was blackened and left with a layer of black dust on his patio door.

On Sunday contractors hired by his insurance company were cleaning his unit because of smoke damage. Barnhardt said money is tight and he’s had to forgo groceries to pay for the insurance he is glad he has now.

“For the last few years I’ve been going to the soup kitchens in the area to get enough money to pay for the insurance,” Barnhardt said.

Because of his disability Barnhardt said he would have never been able to thoroughly clean his apartment of the smoke and soot. The apartment was in such bad condition that he spent the night outside.

“I was allowed back in but it was so bad the smell that I couldn’t stay, so I stayed out on the bench then I went to Tim Hortons and stayed there,” Barnhardt explained.

The damage that spread from the original fifth floor balcony is so extensive that the people in the fifth and sixth units also had to find somewhere else to stay. Neighbours said the flames and smoke made their way inside the unit as well.

“It’s bad,” one neighbour remarked. “There’s not a clean spot in the place. It’s burnt up to a crisp.”

Residents said the fire alarm goes off many times in the building, but they’ve never seen anything like this before.

“The smoke, in two minutes, got so bad I couldn’t even escape,” a resident said.

“I wasn’t scared, I was shaken because I’ve never seen a fire before,” said another.

Hamilton Fire said the damage is estimated to be about $140,000 for both the fifth and the sixth floor apartments.

The blaze is believed to have been caused by an electrical issue possibly related to an air conditioner that was on the balcony. Luckily no one was physically hurt.