Bathurst fire forces evacuation of apartments, damages bistro

A fire in downtown Bathurst on Tuesday led to the evacuation of several apartments and damaged a restaurant that was supposed to open in two weeks.

No injuries were reported.

Firefighters contained the flames to the upstairs apartments of the King Avenue building.

Details, including the number of people affected and the extent of the damage, were not available.

"The fire was contained very quickly by the Bathurst Fire Department," said Joel Aubie, the owner of the unfinished restaurant Fresco on the lower floor of the building. 

"But of course there was water damage. It was basically raining in my nearly built restaurant." 

Aubie's bistro was set to open in two weeks in what was once a coffee shop.

"I spent an awful lot of personal labour [on] that space over the last three months," Aubie said. "It's just sort of setting in what happened."

The afternoon fire happened just across the street from where a large blaze claimed a historic section of the city in November 2015. That fire destroyed two buildings, damaged two others and left 50 people displaced.