Nine people have lost homes in a fire that destroyed part of a building on Bridge Street on Tuesday night.

Justin Pauley, one of the landlords of 3 & 5 Bridge Street, confirmed that the destruction of three apartments in his building left nine tenants without a home.

CHMA reached out to a parent of one of the displaced residents, who said that up to five other people who lived in an upper floor apartment in the former Meldrum Law building next door were displaced due to the fire.

That building’s owner, Sean Doucet, confirmed that while a five-bedroom apartment did get smoke damaged as a result of the fire, the fire marshal gave tenants the all clear to move back in yesterday.

The fire marshal’s office was on site throughout the day Wednesday doing an investigation to determine the cause of the fire.

Sackville fire chief Craig Bowser confirmed that three local area fire departments joined Sackville on Tuesday night—Dorchester, Amherst and Point de Bute all sent people and equipment.

“It’s called a mutual aid response,” says Bowser. “So when there’s larger scale incidents, we reach out to surrounding fire departments and they do the same within their coverage areas.”

Bowser says there were 50 people working on scene on Tuesday.

“All personnel were utilized and it was great to have. Many hands make light work,” said Bowser yesterday.

The Sackville Fire Department’s aerial truck was used on the scene, and was the subject of discussion earlier Tuesday evening at town council’s discussion meeting.

Bowser told council that the aerial truck’s transmission is failing and will need a repair costing about $15,000.

It’s an unexpected expense, but one that can be covered by money set aside for another project that will not happen this year, said Bowser.

The truck still works, says Bowser, and indeed was put to use less than two hours after the town council meeting ended.

“It is still operational,” he says, “but we know there’s a mechanical concern with that that needs to be rectified sooner rather than later. So that’s why it was brought in front of council for their consideration to have that repair completed.”

The repair will take about two weeks to complete, and Bowser said that the Amherst fire department has been alerted and will be on standby while Sackville’s truck is out of commission.

The Bridge Street building housed Nabi Sushi on the ground floor and three apartments above that.

The building’s owners, Duane, Sue and Justin Pauley posted on social media yesterday to thank firefighters for their quick response and leadership throughout the night.

“Our primary concern was with the safety of our tenants and all others who were involved,” they said.

The Pauleys also thanked Michelle Strain, the director of administrative services at Mount Allison University, for reaching out and offering immediate help for the off-campus students who lost their homes.

The Pauleys said that while they are absolutely heartbroken at the loss of their building, their thoughts are with their tenants.