After a May 24 fire that took almost eight hours to extinguish, the Coulson Building on Durham Street still stands empty, with a long road ahead before it can be re-occupied.
Now, as Paul Stewart, who co-owns the building with Tony Monteleone, works to repair the extensive damage, he offered Sudbury.com a tour of the safe areas of the building, and explained just how many obstacles must be met before tenants and business owners can move back in.
Greater Sudbury Fire crews responded to the fire May 24 at 2:18 p.m. and battled the blaze until the late evening. At around 8 p.m. firefighters confirmed that “the loss was stopped,” and later confirmed the fire was out.
In an interview with Sudbury.com the day after the fire, Deputy Fire Chief Craig Lawrence said the challenge in old buildings such as this one, built in 1937, is that smoke hides in the empty spaces between the walls, making it hard to pinpoint the source of the fire.
Over the course of the day, firefighters cycled in and out of battling the blaze. Usually, there are 24 firefighters on shift. Extinguishing this fire took the work of 57 firefighters.
The building held several businesses on the main floor including Oscar's Grill, Kulta Vintage, BusinessKasual, The Coulson, Diamonds, Monteleone Custom Fashions, and Thrive Health Foods, as well as three stories of residential units. All told, there are 40 units in the building.
The tour began in a small corner of Oscar’s Grill, the only area we could safely stand. It was across the entirety of the restaurant from the electrical panel that has been deemed the source of the fire.
First, a peek into the room where the fire started, looking only through the door. There was a stainless steel deep freezer inside that appeared bent out of shape from the heat.
The smell of smoke was powerful, even coming from the outside that at the time was under an air quality warning from the forest fires. Sudbury.com wore an N-95 at all times and it still permeated.
Examining the stores from their open doorways, it was clear that there is a great deal of work that needs to be done. When you approach the apartments from a side door near the Coulson entrance on Larch Street, an order to remedy an unsafe building from the City of Greater Sudbury is posted.
It describes the “unsafe conditions” as a “Structural fire located at (Oscar Grill) on the main floor causing significant heat damage to the ceiling area and heavy smoke damage to the whole building. The building's power has been turned off and the building has been vacated.”
It also provides the obstacles to occupancy.
Prior to re-occupancy in the building, owners must:
- Have a structural engineer review the area affected by the fire and provide a structural report on any remedial work required for a building permit.
- Have the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) certificate required prior to occupancy.
- Have air quality testing performed for each floor prior to occupancy of the building.
- Have Greater Sudbury Fire Services approval prior to re-occupancy of the building.
But there are several steps in between each of those requirements.
Now that the power has been turned off, said Stewart, there are more requirements for approved hydro than previously, thanks to the age of the building and the need to bring it to modern standards. But in order to work in the building, they also need light.
Stewart was able to hire master electricians to sort out what they could, and add two, and only two outlets to the building so the owners could purchase plug-in safety lights. All this just so even one person could enter the building. This is what is required for one step, the ESA approval.
The elevator is still not working, and will not be turned on until the ESA issues the certificate, meaning even if tenants could get into the building, they would be unable to get anything out.
Another aspect to the repairs is the need to get rid of soot, the black powdery substance produced by the incomplete burning of organic matter that now covers every surface in the building.
Sudbury.com left clear footprints in the soot on the floor walking through the halls.
This soot consists largely of amorphous carbon, which is flammable. Each area, walls, floors, counters etc. must be cleaned thoroughly, not to mention each lightswitch and outlet. The small box from each and every outlet and switch in the entire building must be removed, cleaned, rewired, replaced and then covered with a new plastic cover.
Costly, and time consuming, said the owner.
“There’s 62,500 square feet to the building. Every square inch of it is, in some way, shape or form, touched by the fire.”
Stewart said the work will continue as fast as the requirements will allow, and as soon as the building is structurally sound, work will begin on the residential units first.
“Coulson Enterprises is doing everything we can to get occupancy back in the building, as soon as possible, taking into account that we have to meet all the regulations of all the bodies involved,” Stewart told Sudbury.com. “So that's the city, the fire department, the fire marshal, the insurance company, and hydro, the gas company, everyone.”
Stewart said it would be similar to a home with an old hot water tank. If you plan renovations and have the water turned off, then it won’t be turned back on if relevant building codes haven’t been complied with.
“It's just the way it is, no one's picking on us,” he said. “It's not any different for us than it is for anyone else. We’re not going to circumvent any of those processes to save a week.”
Tyler Campbell, the city’s director of children and social services, told Sudbury.com there are six households displaced from the fire currently receiving city support.
“We’re working to support them until such time that they can get back in, or we can support them to look at another housing option,” said Campbell.
As each of the six households have expressed that without the support, they would be homeless, the city is continuing to pay for hotel space on a week-to-week basis, funded as bridge housing, which is often used to house those who were previously homeless while they wait for already-secured housing.
For more information about the city’s housing services, visit there website here.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com.
