New BrunswickA house fire in Norton Thursday evening quickly turned into a multi-building blaze due to high winds and the proximity of the properties. Blaze, fuelled by high winds, has displaced about a dozen people, but no one injuredOliver Pearson · CBC News · Posted: Dec 12, 2025 4:26 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.A house fire in Norton Thursday evening quickly spread to a neighbouring apartment building due to high winds. (Submitted by Mike Sherwood)What started as a single house fire in Norton Thursday evening quickly turned into a blaze that also destroyed a three-unit apartment building and shed.The Norton Fire Department responded shortly after 7:30 p.m. to a call on Perkins Drive in the village, about 15 kilometres southwest of Sussex.”The whole sky was lit up,” said Valley Waters Mayor Randy McKnight, who was at the scene until around midnight.“I mean, I was shocked,” he told CBC News Friday.Seven neighbouring fire departments were called in to assist. Still, crews faced a challenging scene, said McKnight.The wind was “howling,” he said. “It was definitely fuelling the fire.”In addition, the buildings were old and close together, allowing the fire to jump, said McKnight.WATCH | Scenes from the fire:Several residents displaced after 3-building fire in NortonA fire in Norton, a village just under 60 kilometres north of Saint John, burned through a house, a shed and an apartment building on Thursday night. The loss of the house and apartment building displaced five people, according to McKnight, whose municipality was created during local governance reform.There were no deaths or injuries as a result of the fire, he said.Additional building heavily damagedAn additional building that housed two families was heavily damaged by smoke and water, but is still standing.“It’s not habitable. Like, they can’t live in it at the moment,” said Ryan Cossaboom, who owns the building, along with the apartment building that burned down.Ryan Cossaboom owns two of the buildings that were impacted by the fire. One is a complete loss and the other one is standing with smoke and water damage. (Roger Cosman/CBC)One of the families has a young child and the other has three children, said Cossaboom.His son lived in one of his units, he said, and they sat on the curb and watched the firefighters work until 2 a.m.“They were up and down the [riverbank] in the freezing cold at one in the morning. Like, it’s just amazing the effort they put in.”Despite the misfortune, Cossaboom said he’s grateful that the only loss was property. He feels terrible for his tenants, he said.“The buildings don’t matter. [I’ve] got insurance, but the displacement and the hardship for these families and people, it’s just heartbreaking. It just hurts my heart to see this happen to people.”Firefighters worked along the riverbank pumping and shuttling water to tankers so they could extinguish flames. (Submitted by Mike Sherwood)Cossaboom and McKnight both applauded the various fire departments for co-ordinating their efforts.Mike Sherwood and his crew at the Belleisle Valley Fire Department left their fire hall with “almost everything” they had to assist. It was the most difficult and tense water supply I’ve ever been involved with, for sure.- Mike Sherwood, Belleisle Valley Fire Department captainThey got a call at 7:44 p.m. to bring a tanker and as much manpower as they could supply, according to Sherwood, who is a volunteer and captain of the Belleisle department.When he arrived, one building was falling in on itself and an adjacent building had just caught on fire, he said.Firefighters from eight different departments battled thick smoke and high winds, which kept the smoke low, reducing visibility. (Submitted by Mike Sherwood)His role was shuttling water from the Kennebecasis River, behind the structures, to the trucks that had their nozzles trained on the fire. There were also four portable pumps being used, Sherwood said.The biggest challenge, he said, was high winds and thick smoke that stayed low to the ground.Sherwood couldn’t see anything from across the river due to smoke cover.“Everything was freezing on the trucks. When you went to pull away, you had to literally chip the ice off of mirrors and windows so you could see to leave that scene, go back and get another load,” he said.“It was the most difficult and tense water supply I’ve ever been involved with, for sure.”What’s next for those impactedAs investigators work to determine the cause of the fire, the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization is working with those affected on accommodations and what they need to rebuild.McKnight said he’s amazed and encouraged by the messages of support and willingness to help those affected.Valley Waters has set up an area at the municipal office to accept donations for people displaced by the fire, said Mayor Randy McKnight. (Roger Cosman/CBC)Donations can be dropped off at the Valley Waters municipal office, he said.Cossaboom said donations can also be dropped off at his store, Tony’s Grocery, in Sussex Corner.He worries the biggest challenge for those displaced will be finding housing, which is short in supply.“There’s no other places to move to, the rents are way too high, there’s very limited number of places to rent. So where are we going to relocate these people until we can get a chance to rebuild these? Like, housing is a crisis,” he said.ABOUT THE AUTHOROliver Pearson is a reporter at CBC New Brunswick. He can be reached at oliver.pearson@cbc.caWith files from Vanessa Vander Valk and Roger Cosman
Norton fire destroys home, apartment building
