Bob McGinn and his brother Kenny McGinn returned to their childhood home and discovered it had been damaged by fire, smoke, and water. fire, smoke and water.
The old armories building caught fire on Tuesday evening. McGinn’s dad, who was a veteran, took care of the armories at 11 Carleton St., where he and his family lived.
“It was home and it was an amazing place to live,” Bob McGinn said in an interview on Wednesday. “Sad. I talked to my sister last night and my brother and it’s just like a punch in the gut.”
He remembers fondly the fun nights they had downtown – at a time when the uptown core didn’t exist.
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The two brothers said they were devastated to see the condition of the building on Wednesday morning, describing it as the same feeling as losing a loved one.
“It’s a really sad event,” Bob said. “I saw it on TV last night and I almost started to cry.”
They remember where their bedrooms were, with now-broken windows, and damage from smoke and fire.
“The room there, that was Cheryl’s, and then mine was the centre sometimes, and you were the far right, but it switched around sometimes,” said Kenny.
“Mom and Dad lived at the back and you say it’s pretty well destroyed,” said Bob.
The McGinns promise to request to at least keep the front door as a memento of the building if it has to be demolished.
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“I hope they don’t demolish it,” Bob said.
The Fredericton Fire Department said it got the call around 4 p.m. and crews arrived to intense fire on the outside of the home. Firefighters managed to put out that part of the fire.
“Eventually it worked its way to the attic and the crews were eventually pulled out just due to the danger to them,” assistant deputy fire chief David McKinley said.
He said it is possible the building could be saved.
“It’s hard to say. The building is over 150 years old, it’s built with heavy timber construction so those buildings are more resilient than the lightweight construction of modern buildings,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
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The case has been handed over to the Fredericton Police Force, but McKinley wouldn’t confirm what convinced officials to think the case needed to be given to them.
Police posted on X, formerly Twitter, three hours after the crews were called to the blaze, asking the public to identify a person of interest in an active file, who was standing at the back of the building on fire.
“At 10:45 this morning the file was turned over to the Fredericton Police Force,” police Chief Martin Gaudet said. “The fire is deemed suspicious so the investigation has been turned over to us and off we go.”
Anyone with information is urged to call the Fredericton Police Force at 506-460-2300, email [email protected] or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 to remain anonymous.
— with files from Silas Brown
