More than a dozen people were forced from their beds this Thanksgiving weekend after fire partially destroyed a west-end Cornwall motel.
At around 4:30 a.m. Monday a fire blazed through the Sunset Motel on Second Street West.
Peter Dimitriou had just returned to bed when he heard a commotion outside and saw smoke pouring from the unit next to his.
"That was when I get up to go to the toilet. And as soon as I laid back down I heard the alarm," he told Seaway News.
Dimitriou also saw a man from the neighbrouing unit outside his window.
He estimates 18 people live in the motel. He said Red Cross has visited the facility and offered people vouchers to purchase clothing.
Dimitriou said many people have lost everything.
"I was scared," he said. "I still have my clothes."
It took 13 Cornwall firefighters two hours to douse the flames.
Dimitriou believes the fire was started with a lit cigarette on the bed in the unit next to his. An damage estimate has not been released yet. No one was injured and the official cause of the blaze has not been determined.
