KITCHENER -- Demolition will soon begin on a heritage building in downtown Brantford, which was badly damaged during a fire in February.
The city says what’s left of the structure, at the corner of Colbourne Street and King Street, is a safety hazard.
On February 11, O’Neill James was living in one of the residential units in the building.
“There was a smell of smoke, so we called 911,” he says.
Before leaving the building he also made sure to warn the businesses below.
“If he had not taken the time to come in, I don’t think that my kids would have survived the fire,” says Bonnie Robinson, the co-owner of Waffles & Crepes Café.
She and her daughters were working in the store at the time of the fire.
“I was in the building for less than a minute and I got smoke inhalation,” she says.
Robinson and her family took over the business just three months before the fire.
Despite losing tens of thousands of dollars, they were working on a plan to reopen Waffles & Crepes Café.
“Our goal was to do it as quickly as possible because we didn’t want to lose the momentum we gained,” she says. “Then COVID-19 hit.”
Robinson says they’re still deciding what to do next.
The building, meanwhile, is scheduled to be torn down.
Demolition is expected to start sometime this week and could take a month or more to complete.
The cause of the fire has still not been determined.
