Garrett Heighington and Austin Prechner had never met until the apartment building on Ross Street in Barrie they shared experienced an electrical fire September 19.
Now, they're working together in an effort to get answers from Skyview, the building's management company, and help their fellow tenants.
In the weeks since the fire, residents have been displaced and restricted from entering the building, aside from limited access in the days immediately after to retrieve toiletries or extra clothes. But now any access to their units and belongings have been shut down.
"The City has restricted access to the building and we are complying with the authorities," Skyview said. It adds that it's "working diligently with the authorities to ensure tenants are able to access their units in a safe and timely manner. "
Preliminary updates reportedly have the move-in timeline at six months minimum until the building is deemed "safe", but that's too long for these residents.
"There's nothing else you can really do," Prechner says. "Your stuff is right there being like held hostage."
Both men had lived in the building for roughly two years with their partners, but Heighington also has a four-month-old son to care for throughout their displacement.
"I can't be living in a car with a four-month-old and with no help," he says. "We actually had to go out and buy more clothes for him, because we couldn't go in and get stuff."
Since the fire, the Red Cross was able to provide support for residents for the first 72 hours, which according to the County of Simcoe, meant the deployment of a congregate shelter and Emergency Social Services (ESS) program wasn't immediately necessary.
Building management also provided two nights of hotel stays after initially offering just one night. But, the provided accommodations were finite.
"There's some people that are actually living in their vehicles right now because they have no family, no friends," Heighington says. "There's about two or three people that I know of that they're sleeping in their cars. We're sleeping in a hotel, but when you're going from hotel room to hotel room, it's not home. It's constantly wondering when you wake up, where you're going to next."
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"It's been hard," Prechner says. "We pay our bills and stuff and we practically feel homeless. We're starting over because none of us have our stuff. Luckily, we're staying in a hotel but it's not home."
For both men, there's no end to the saga in sight.
Every time residents have attempted to go back and retrieve their belongings, they've encountered police tape surrounding the entrance and a notice detailing information about emergency shelter, urging residents to contact their tenant insurance providers, and how to receive updates.
There's also signs that caution about asbestos in the building, which was suspected in the building by the investigating engineer, and is concerning many tenants.
Beyond the warnings, Skyview has also changed the locks to the building, saying that step was recommended by the City of Barrie and necessary to keeping residents out of the building while its considered unsafe.
City of Barrie Building Services says it did not change the locks, but did issue an Order to Remedy an Unsafe Building after its engineer determined fire separations were compromised.
"The Order states that access is required to be prevented to the areas identified by the engineer as unsafe," the office says. "How access is prevented is determined by the building owner or property manager."
Prechner says residents were told it would take two weeks for workers to restore power in the building and clear the odour from the building, and then allow access to units. However, after a month, the area would be fenced off and access would be prohibited.
In that time, many tenants have had to pay out of pocket for a place to stay while searching for other options and gathering information regarding the fire and the alleged wrongdoing of the building's management.
The morning of the fire and subsequent evacuation provided a "blessing in disguise" according to Heighington, as residents who had never interacted until that moment were suddenly forming a tight bond after the blaze.
"Everyone's gotten like so much closer," he says. "We have a WhatsApp group and everyone's like, 'hey, do do need this?' or 'does anyone have this?' or 'we're making burgers in the parking lot with a barbecue.' Everyone's trying to help out and especially look after the seniors that are in a tough spot."
Now, its a team effort for residents to get answers.
Prechner, who lived on the third floor, feels particularly stressed about the situation. He was set to move to Nova Scotia in October but doesn't feel like he can leave this behind.
"We don't even know if we're going to be able to get our stuff before we move, he said. "There's a lot of valuables up there, a lot sentimental... it's frustrating because we're just left in the dark."
Heighington and Prechner claim that updates from management has been rare, and that not every resident has been contacted through each round of updates—something Skyview disagrees with.
"Since the fire, the landlord has sent various correspondence to tenants, in relation to temporary accommodation support, anticipated timelines, accessing units, accessing mail, rent abatement, management’s contact information, etc.," Skyview said. "Additionally, members of our head office have also called each individual resident to ensure we have the best and up-to-date contact information."
The whole situation and what tenants believe is mismanagement by Skyview comes as no surprise. Heighington and Prechner are among a large number of residents who have had continuous issues with building maintenance.
Most of the residents' issues, historically, with the building has been with water—which was the root cause of the fire—and elevator service.
"One by one, people were saying stories where they've had issues with water damage, the tiles are broken, their stove doesn't work, or their fridge doesn't work," Heighington said.
"Or, say, a leak coming through the washroom from like the person above them taking a shower," Prechner adds. "I guarantee you, if you pull those walls back, there's definitely stuff you don't want to see."
Heighington detailed multiple instances of which water issues affected him and his family, including a five-day period in 2024 that taps were being replaced in their shower. Neither him or his girlfriend could use the shower during this time, and because it wasn't re-tiled immediately after, they needed to use a vacant unit to shower.
There are also claims that the only elevator in the building broke down monthly, and even flooding in the elevator the night of the fire.
He also said that during the fire, a fellow resident pulled "about two or three different fire alarms and not one fire alarm went off" before calling 911 and another tenant pulled a working fire alarm. When asked about the alarm's failures, Skyview claimed that was also false.
"The monthly fire safety reporting was in compliance with fire safety regulations and the annual mandated fire inspection this year was cleared by officials," it said.
Building Services says since the fire damaged the electrical system, that compromised the fire alarm system.
Skyview says it's "taking all the appropriate steps to rectify this situation in a safe and timely manner," and are "committed to keeping the tenants updated as information becomes available." Despite that claim, both Heighington and Prechner have found both Skyview and the City of Barrie very difficult to deal with during the aftermath of the fire.
Whether it's about when they can access their belongings or move back in entirely, both entities have redirected their inquiries to each other or their different offices. Either by phone, letter, or email.
"They're just basically avoiding us at this point," Prechner concludes. "That's what it feels like."
