'Situation is dire': 22 men displaced after fire at drug addiction treatment centre

An early morning fire impacted close to two dozen men that were being housed at the Launch Pad Recovery Centre on Ouellette Avenue.

Officials with the drug addiction treatment centre said all 22 clients were accounted for and are currently staying at another Launch Pad recovery home on Dougall Avenue.

"If we can get the help, it would be appreciated. Our hands are tied," said manager Matt Prell.

"The situation is dire right now, but, we see hope. We believe that God will help us."

Prell explained most of the men that are part of LPRC programs come from the Ontario penal system, hoping to improve their lives.

"Most of the men here are standing on solid rock right now. They're good," Prell said. "We're a Christian based center and we have a lot of community support with the churches and the Christian men's groups that that help us."

"But we're going to need some help," he noted. "This is tough. Our hands are full. It's exhausting. But we do have faith in God. We believe that he will provide. And, we're asking the community for their help."

Supervisor Damion Lavanious told CTV News, "We're short on food. We're short on clothing. Everybody lost everything. So you got guys that are a year in recovery. You got guys that are 30 days into recovery. They accumulated all these things and now it's all wiped away. And that's disheartening."

Lavanious continued, "We need the community to come together. We need toiletries. We need food. We need men's clothing, men's shoes and you know, any type of gift cards for grocery stores and prayer. Just prayer is enough. Just give us thoughts. Just let people know that there's a need and we need to meet that need right now."

Officials with Windsor Fire and Rescue said one person was taken to hospital and that the Office of the Fire Marshall was called in to assist with the investigation, which also has Windsor police assistance.

LPRC president John Button stated, "Today is going to be one of those days where we're going to thank God that we're all still alive and we're on a mission to figure out what we're going to do next."

Button added, "Things can come our way and come against us. But as long as we stay in the structure of what we're doing, these guys are going to make it."