‘Nothing made it’: Family devastated after east Hamilton fire reduces apartment to mere rubble

By the time Buddy Carter walked to the kitchen and peered out the side window overlooking the roof, the grey strands of thick smoke were already seeping through the cracks of the living room floor.

The apartment was crumbling.

Not a minute earlier, Carter, 34, rose from the couch alongside his girlfriend and four-year-old daughter to the sound of two loud bangs, each spaced out seconds apart.

Last week we had people on the roof trying to break in through the side window, so we were on high-alert," he said. I went to check because I thought they might have come back."

They didn't.

Beneath Carter - in the commercial unit on the ground-level of 221 Kenilworth Ave. N. - a storm was brewing in the form of a fire, first clouding the two-storey building in a haze of smoke before quickly engulfing its balloon-frame construction in potent flames.

Carter, still oblivious, walked into the hallway, where a neighbouring unit had its door flung open.

It had been under renovation," he said. The guy working in there ... he didn't know what was going on either."

Then came the screeching yell.

Fire!" screamed Jaslynn True, Carter's girlfriend. Fire!"

Carter rushed to the kitchen window, the same one he looked out of seconds earlier. Smoke was now coming through the roof of the extended unit below. He grabbed a bucket of water and chucked it.

There was nothing," he said. No sizzle. Nothing."

With True and his daughter, Maci, already on the street to safety, Carter jetted across his two-bedroom apartment in a discombobulated flurry, thinking of things to salvage.

There was the two beloved cats, Mitton and Kitty; the photos of his late grandmother with whom he shared a deep connection; the baby photos of Maci and his nine-year-old son, Jackson; the toys, clothes, knick-knacks.

It was too late for any of them.

The smoke was choking me," said Carter. The fire ... it just took off so fast."

The building where Carter lived was one of four significantly damaged in a sweeping fire Tuesday afternoon that sent two people to hospital with smoke inhalation and left well over $2-million worth of repairs in its wake.

More than 50 firefighters responded to 221 Kenilworth, between Britannia and Hope avenues, at around 3:20 p.m. for a multi-alarm structure fire.

Crews would remain there for nearly five hours to douse a blaze so persistent it drew a crowd of onlookers in the hundreds and shrouded several nearby blocks in plumes of smoke.

Chief Dave Cunliffe of the fire department said the blaze started on the ground level of 221 Kenilworth before it picked up steam and shot through the roof and over to neighbouring properties.

He attributed its quick spread to the building's structural makeup: old, made in the 1920s, with joists and floorboards running parallel from the ground to the roof - a perfect recipe to trap and intensify any fire, he said.

The cause of the blaze remains unknown.

The Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) said Thursday an on-scene investigation has been parked due to structural issues with the building and concerns for investigator safety.

At least two of the four affected properties will eventually have to come down," said Andrea Gaynor, an investigator with the OFM.

One of those housed Carter's apartment.

Carter arrived at the building Wednesday with the slim hope of finding his two black-and-white cats.

He was instead met with an apartment that had been reduced to a mere crater of soot, ash and dust.

There was no second floor - I couldn't see a single remnant of my apartment," said Carter, who has no content insurance and is now living with his mother. Everything was burnt to a crisp. Nothing made it. Absolutely nothing."

But in devastation, there is also hope.

A relief effort spearheaded by family and friends has left Carter speechless.

It started with a GoFundMe campaign, launched right after the fire, that has already garnered nearly $7,000 in monetary support.

Then came a wave of unexpected Facebook messages from Hamilton residents - some of whom Carter has never even met - that pledged their support in the form of tangible items: beds, couches, tables, chairs, toys, pots, pans, utensils.

There is so much stuff, so quick, that Carter has had to rent out a storage unit for the first time in his life.

They're going to furnish the whole house," he said. I honestly can't believe it. People have stepped up in a way I never would've imagined. We're so unbelievably grateful."

Sebastian Bron is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbron@thespec.com