‘Very nice’: Community rallies to help students after duplex fire

A northeast Barrie neighborhood is stepping up to help displaced students after a devastating fire Wednesday.

A resident offered the use of his home for a day, while a local business owner provided food from his restaurant and grocery store to help in a time of need.

Fire crews received a call at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday for a fire at a duplex on Tunbridge Road near Penetanguishene Road and Georgian Drive.

Crews arrived to find heavy smoke and flames. They were not injured, but the house was badly damaged.

Carrie Clark, deputy chief of Barrie Fire and Emergency Services, estimated the damage at more than $500,000, which “would be a conservative estimate from the photos we’ve seen,” she said Thursday afternoon.

She said officials do not have an exact number on how many people have been displaced by the fire.

The structure is a duplex, with two homes affected by the fire, she noted.

According to a neighbor, a young family of four lived in one half of the duplex. She spoke to the father, who said the family was safe. Another neighbor, who was in contact with some of the victims, said five international students lived in the other half of the building.

A city bus was brought to the scene on Wednesday to provide shelter to those affected by the fire.

“I opened my house to all the kids and the bus driver,” another nearby resident, Marianne Cowan, said Thursday. “I gave them water, food and popsicles.”

She also said there were five international students living in the house, all aged between 22 and 25, and that she remains in regular contact with the group.

Cowan helped out for about nine hours Wednesday and called a small nearby store — A1 Indian Grocery — asking for food donations.

The owner, Abbasi Kothari, who also owns the Mumbai Central restaurant, along with three other men, “brought the samosa, plus a lot more,” Cowan said.

Kothari said he knew the students as they were regular customers at his shop.

“We prepared some burgers, samosas, fries along with some grocery stuff like water and juices because we didn’t know how long (they would be moved),” Kothari said at his shop on Thursday morning. .

Most of them have only been in Barrie for six weeks and are students at Georgian College, he said.

Kothari has a friend in Barrie who operates a motel and wanted to help out with rooms if needed.

“I left them my information. If they need, I will help them,” Kothari said.

“I came here as a student about 20 years ago. I understand what you are going through. It’s very different (for them).”

As for Cowan’s effort to help students, Kothari was grateful.

“She’s the one who basically opened her door – that’s very nice of her. For me, it’s easier to bring food, but for her to open her doors to let everyone use her bathroom, and everything, it’s very personal, and that’s good of her,” he said.

Cowan noted how a bad day can become better when the community comes together to help those in need.

“After nine hours on the city bus, the young students ran to thank me. We are still in contact with them today. I was just talking to them this morning,” she added.

Cowan said her daughter, Monica DaRosa, took to social media Thursday “asking for donations of clothes, old cellphones and computers” to help the students continue their schooling and work. To donate, people are asked to contact her at (email protected).

The Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office was notified due to significant damage. Investigators could be seen sifting through debris from the burned garage Thursday morning as they continued their work trying to determine the cause of the fire.