'Nobody has anything. The building is done,' Quail Ridge apartment resident says
CBC
A Winnipeg woman whose home was destroyed in a massive apartment fire Friday evening says she and the others who lived in the complex are now looking for new places to live.
Kayla McKay, 32, lived in a top floor corner suite of the four-storey Quail Ridge Apartment Homes in the city's St. James area, which caught fire around 7:30 p.m.
"Nobody has anything. The building is done," McKay told CBC News at the scene Saturday morning as she was awaiting a phone call from officials about whether her two cats, Elvis and Smokey, were rescued from the blaze.
"It's just devastating to come out and see."
McKay said she and her daughter were at a fair at a nearby community centre when her daughter noticed smoke in the air. McKay said she ran to see where it was coming from, only to discover it was at her building.
"Next thing you know, we couldn't get in and my whole apartment was on fire," she said.
McKay, who lived in the apartment with her parents and daughter, said the fire officials at the scene told her the building wasn't salvageable.
Around 10 p.m., residents of the complex were summoned and told they should start looking for new homes, McKay said. While she had tenant insurance, others in the building did not, she said.
She said she hasn't heard from her landlord except to terminate her lease, and was shocked when the Canadian Red Cross told her to start looking for somewhere new to live.
McKay said she's staying at her sister's home for now. On Saturday morning, she said her daughter woke up worried about where their cats were.
While there was a bird turned in from the apartment fire when she visited the city's animal services building, her cats weren't there.
McKay said she's hoping people can keep an eye out for Elvis and Smokey, who she said are very friendly.
About 180 people have been displaced by the fire. The city said Saturday that the Red Cross and the city's Emergency Social Services team provided help to 15 residents and the rest had made their own arrangements for accommodations.
"I think everybody's just lost their wits right now. No one has any feelings or words to describe any of it," said McKay.
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