Around one dozen people have been displaced after a structural failure Saturday morning at a historic building in uptown Saint John, N.B.
The Canadian Red Cross says emergency crews responded to a house containing three apartments on Charlotte Street around 2 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Officials say the building’s facade loosened, sending hundreds of bricks crashing onto the sidewalk and street. There were no injuries from the incident and
Known as the William Vassie Residence and designated as a historic building, it was built in 1879 as part of a massive reconstruction after the Great Saint John Fire in 1877.
The building was designed with Italianate architecture, arched windows and decorative stonework.
The Canadian Red Cross says there is no indication if tenants can retrieve belongings as the home has been cordoned off and deemed structurally unsafe.
Volunteers assisted a woman and her two children as well as a couple with three children, including a four-month-old infant, with emergency purchases like clothing, food and other essentials.
Due to a lack of hotel rooms in the Saint John area over the New Brunswick Day weekend, the three adults and five children travelled to Moncton to stay with relatives or friends.
The Canadian Red Cross says they had no means of transportation, so the organization also covered taxi fares from Saint John to Moncton.