SYDNEY, N.S. — The Rising Tide Tattoos shop and the 11 people living above it are still dealing with the shock of being homeless after a fire destroyed the Sydney building they were in Saturday night.
Alex Hogan was one of the tenants living in the top floor apartment at 413 Charlotte Street. The 22-year-old New Waterford native works at the Sydney Call Centre and was at home taking calls remotely on March 28 when the fire started.
One of his roommates rushed in to tell him smoke was coming through their apartment walls and the two went to investigate the cause.
“It smelled like burning paper,” said Hogan. “The smoke was coming right through the bathroom walls. It looked like it was from a smoke machine.”
It was around 9:30 p.m. and Hogan called 911, then the men went downstairs to alert their neighbours, international students attending Cape Breton University, about the fire.
Hogan believes 10 or the 11 people living there were home when the blaze started.
Outside safe, Hogan realized they only had one of their two cats with them so he rushed back inside to get the missing one.
“I realize I shouldn’t have done that but I was in shock, I think,” said Hogan, who admits he’s still very upset from the incident.
“At some points I feel like I’m taking it very well. At others, not so much.”
Without his computer, Hogan can’t work and is considering taking a leave of absence to help him recover from the loss of his home and belongings. However, it’s the small, sentimental items he can't replace that really upsets him.
“I was kind of in denial that I could recover some of my things after the fire was put out,” he said, his voice getting quiet. “Once I saw the house the next day (demolished), I knew there was no way I could get anything.”
For the tattoo artists working at The Rising Tide Tattoos, which opened May 1, 2018, there were also irreplaceable items lost as well as thousands of dollars in equipment, ink and supplies.
“I had a collection of originals (paintings) that people gave me that I can never get back,” said Rising Tide co-owner Wade Bond as he broke into tears.
One of the shop's artists lost the only photo he had of his father. Everyone lost years of original tattoo designs, many of which were displayed on the walls for clients to choose from.
“A flash (a piece of cardboard tattooists draw their original designs on to display for customers) can take up to 30 hours to design. Probably half of our walls were covered with Tony (Steylen) and Deryk’s (Currie) work,” said Bond who has been tattooing for 14 years.
Some of the artists were able to recover were their work stations - carts with enough supplies to work on clients. Everything else was ruined.
However, the community support the artists are geting is helping Bond and his colleagues recover from the loss.
“We’re getting a lot of emails and messages (on social media) from other tattooists offering to donate (equipment, tattoo artwork, supplies)... One client who is also a client at another shop has started a GoFundMe to help us get our equipment and supplies back… That helps us a lot,” said Bond.
“We have donated to the community a lot, like the Every Women’s Centre, and now they are reaching out and offering to help us.”
Like the tenants who lived upstairs and On Paper Books, who were doing renovations to their new shop, Rising Tide didn’t have tenant insurance. This makes the money raised through the GoFundMe even more valuable to them.
There is also a GoFundMe campaign set up for Hogan and his roommates. Hogan and one of his roommates are staying with their parents. He believes his other roommate and the international students are staying in a hotel, provided to them through the municipality and Red Cross.
“I’m not sure how we’ll replace everything at this point,” he said. “The GoFundMe will help us do this, hopefully.”
Although thinking of the fire is difficult for both Hogan and Bond, the two men are trying to stay positive.
“I’m trying to stick to the mindset of everyone got out, that’s what’s important,” said Hogan.
“There’s not really much you can do in this situation,” Bond said. “We’re all just trying to stay as positive as possible.”
As for their new Rising Tides location, Bond said they hope for another Charlotte Street location.
“We like being on Charlotte Street. The Downtown Sydney Association were always stopping by to see if there was anything we needed and there’s a lot of community minded vendors on Charlotte Street.”
