No injuries in Uxbridge condo fire

May 16, 2008 - 10:55

By Jeff Hayward

UXBRIDGE -- Working fire alarms and a quick response from Uxbridge's fire department are credited with preventing any injuries at a condominium fire that broke out early Friday morning.

A fire in a ground unit at Mossbank Condominium on Main Street North that started just before 6 a.m. was "knocked down quickly" said Captain Troy Jackson, who added three fire vehicles and 16 fire crew were initially deployed. Firefighters were still monitoring the building just before 9 a.m. looking for hot spots, said the captain.

"There was heavy smoke, heavy heat," Capt. Jackson said. No cause for the fire had yet been determined, he added.

He said the fire alarms went off and tenants successfully evacuated themselves.

Some tenants stood outside the building around 9 a.m. still dressed in night gowns. Wes Botham, a resident of the condo, was getting ready to go out for a morning walk when the alarms went off. He said, in the six years he has lived there, it was the "first real fire".

"We're lucky the whole thing didn't go up," Mr. Botham said, adding there are several retired residents in the building.

Many of the condominium residents gathered across the street at Brookview Terrace, said Brookview resident Sheila MacCubbin. Ms. MacCubbin said the community room at Brookview was opened for evacuees and tea and coffee was made available. She said about a dozen people gathered there, some bringing dogs and cats.

Ms. MacCubbin said smoke could be seen rising high from the rear of the Mossbank building. "It was scary," she said.

Firefighters started letting residents back into the building at about 9:30 a.m.

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