WINDSOR
Windsor

    • Estimated damage $400K following fire at abandoned home

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    Early Wednesday morning, residents of an apartment building at the corner of University Avenue and Crawford woke up to a vacant home next door on fire. 

    “Crews were unable to enter the structure at the time because of the heavily involved fire on the first floor and heavy smoke on the second floor, said chief prevention officer John Smith.

    The fire broke out at the two-storey home shortly before 6:30 a.m. Windsor fire officials say there were no injuries and the front entrance of the vacant home was open.

    Damage is estimated at $400,000.

    “We have to assume it’s arson for the fact that there's no electricity to the structure,” said Smith. “The gas was off to the structure. Theoretically no initial sources.”

    Neighbouring residents say the home has been problematic for years and multiple calls have been made to police, the city and councillors.

    “We've made our complaints,” said Janette Calandra, owner of the building next door. “Whatever they're doing isn't fixing the true problem that we're dealing with.”

    Calandra has owned the building for 23 years and says she has dealt with unwanted activity for at least 10 years.

    “We've had car vandalism. Break ins.”

    Damage is estimated at $400,000 following a house fire in Windsor on Nov. 8, 2023. (Source: WFRS/Twitter)

    Calandra claims she has vacancies in the apartment building, in a day when affordable housing is a major issue, due to those problems.

    “You get a pocket of houses within an area that really can ruin it for everybody that lives around it and unfortunately an abandoned house, this is not new.” Calandra said.

    Ward 2 city Coun. Fabio Costante is hoping a proposed vacant home tax will help curb the issue and prompt owners to action.

    “The hope is that it moves the needle a bit and that's always been the intent.” Costante said. “To get people housed. To activate these spaces and make them more safe, not just in the properties but the surrounding neighbourhoods.”

    Costante doesn’t think the tax will completely eliminate the problem but he feels it is part of dealing with a bigger social issue.

    “It’s a piece to a very complicated puzzle,” he said. “What can we do as a municipality and how can we exhaust all of our efforts, legal and otherwise, to do the best that we can within the framework that we’re given? And this is just one of those tools.”

    Next steps for the city is to open dialogue with the owner and discuss the potential of repairing or demolishing the house.

    Calandra and others are hoping for demolition.

    “They cannot leave it boarded up for us to look at that for the next 10 years,” she said.   

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