Heritage building blaze closes Barton
Loss of family residence "a tragedy"
December 04, 2008
John Burman and Jackson Hayes
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/476776
Fire has destroyed a 132-year-old Hamilton heritage building under renovation as a family house for relatives of critical-care patients at Hamilton General Hospital.
Heavy orange flames could be seen from the Mountain and black smoke filled the north-Hamilton sky before dawn.
Flames have subsided and fire remain dousing hotspots in the burnt out shell.
The blaze was reported at 5:30 a.m. and fire crews were pulled out of the building at 6:30 a.m. as the front roof began to collapse, adopting a defensive strategy to contain the blaze after the front wall collapsed.
Police and fire officials kept pedestrians well away from the building when a wall supporting its hydro connection fell down, laying live wires on the ground.
Barton Street East has been closed at Wellington Street and Ferguson Avenue and HSR buses re-routed. Barton Street should remain closed for several hours as will the bridge on Ferguson Avenue North.
Emergency crews closed off a large section of the central core as the smell of smoke hung in the area
There was no one in the building at the time. Officials said the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office and the city building department have been contacted to investigate
The blaze in the former Smart-Turner pump factory on Barton Street East, west of Wellington, broke out at 5:30 a.m. and was reported by staff at Tim Hortons.
John Verbeek, Hamilton fire information officer, said the blaze started in the basement of the stone-walled building.
The building is owned by Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS).
It was under renovations to become the Mark Preece Family House. Verbeek said the renovations were “at the dry-wall stage.
“It is a shame. They were going to use this like a Ronald McDonald House for people with family at the General,” he said.
Lisa Tittley, Mark Preece’s widow said at the scene she was “devastated by the fire.”
“It’s been 11 long years working towards it,” she said.
Jeff Vallentin, Hamilton Health Sciences assistant vice -president corporate and medical affairs, called the blaze “a tragedy.”
HHS donated the land and building to the Mark Preece Foundation to renovate it for the residence house, which was nearing completion.
“It is a loss to Hamilton General and other hospitals that would have used it,” he said.
“It is a devastating loss of the passion and hardwork of volunteers who worked toward this."
Verbeeek had no word yet on the cause and said there were no injuries.
Built in 1876-77 as a malthouse, the one-and-a-half story building was acquired by the city some time ago and was in the process of being designated an historical building by city council.
HHS objected to the designation as it might impede fundraising efforts for Mark Preece House.
The blaze was reported when a customer at Tim Hortons across Barton Street just west noticed flames pouring from a front windows and smoke rising in the area.
Staff Sgt. Nancy Goodes-Ritchie said police notified Hamilton General Hospital about heavy smoke so they could make adjustments to its ventilation system.
Police quickly shut down the entrance to Hortons as well as Barton Street East at Ferguson North and Wellington although customers could still get in on foot from the Kenesky’s Sports parking lot off Wellington.
Mike Bradyk, who was having his morning coffee in Hortons, said he sat and watched it burn.
“It is sad. Going back and forth to the grocery store, I pretty much watched that place being renovated,” he said, adding the planned conversion to a residence was going to be good.
Thanks to whipping cold winds, smoke has swirled throughout the neighbourhood chasing many spectators back indoors. Smoke seemed to be blowing mainly south.
Clint Burleigh was driving his fiancé to work at the hospital.
“Coming down the Mountain I could see the flames. It looked like like a camp fire.”
Officials said the blaze appeared to be in the basement of the structure and had burned up into the first floor.
The blaze became a two-alarm fire when flames began to appear through the barn-shaped roof. An aerial truck was pouring water into the blaze when the roof collapsed.
No injuries have been reported and it is not known how long Barton Street East will be shut down.
HSR buses on the Barton route have been re-routed.
The family house project is named for Mark Preece, a critical-care physician in Hamilton who was diagnosed with cancer in 1996 and was 38 when he died a year later. Before he died, he and his family experienced a welcoming residence for adults, similar to the Ronald McDonald concept, in Pittsburgh, Pa. where he went for treatment.
The National Association of Hospital Hospitality Houses is a U.S. based organization that supports more than 200 homes in North America in being more effective in service to patients and families.
A year after Preece's death, friends and colleagues founded Hospital Family Houses of Ontario, a charitable organization it's hoped will spread throughout the province.
Then the group began fundraising to open a place in Hamilton.
This is the second major fire at the building.
In December 1999, flames destroyed part of the building at the rear where thousands of hardwood moulds used to manufacture pumps and other machinery had been stored and left behind by the old Smart-Turner company.
The building was owned then by the Niagara Peninsula Aboriginal Management Board which had had plans to turn it into a centre for native entrepreneurship.
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