Friday marked the coldest night of the year, with people scrambling to find a warm place to sleep.

More than a dozen people are staying at the emergency shelter at Street Help in downtown Windsor. But they were nearly left out in the cold after a visit by Windsor Fire and Rescue.

Fire officials visited the shelter Friday since the building does not have a fire safety plan, like all other shelters in the city.

“It’s not open for use for sleeping, so technically it would’ve been operating illegally,” said Deputy Fire Chief Andrea DeJong. “We found they did not have any emergency procedures in place, and that they were locking the doors.”

But Street Help Manager Anthony Nelson was not willing to let the 15 people at the shelter walk out and spend the night in what felt like -35 C weather with the wind chill.

“We have people here that really need this place and they need to come here, and we're going to stay open no matter what," said Nelson.

The fire department was prepared to issue an order to cease sleeping operations. But rescinded the order and allowed Street Help to operate as a shelter on an emergency basis.

“We were not ever at any point putting people out onto the streets," said DeJong, who advised the nights need to stay on and the doors unlocked Friday.

Firefighters trained shelter staff Friday evening to implement safety measures to allow Street Help to remain open, short term as an overnight warming centre. That includes ensuring staff stay throughout the night.

“Our primary concern is the safety of residents and this includes compliance with fire safety regulations. We were able to provide staff with training and tools to ensure compliance and protection. We worked to create a win, win situation where people can remain out of the cold weather yet in a safe environment”, said Chief Fire Prevention Officer John Lee in a statement released by the city.

Windsor Fire and Rescue suggested other shelters in the city have room to accommodate the 15 people at Street Help, but Nelson said those other locations may not be as safe.

“Maybe they did something that they shouldn't have done, and they're scared to be around those certain buildings or certain areas where these people are at," said Nelson.

“It’s not Windsor Fire being mean or being bad. It's us trying to protect the residents that actually stay in this building," added DeJong, who said they will revisit the safety issue next week.

The city’s Social Services Department says it remains in regular contact with licensed shelter providers to ensure adequate capacity to accommodate residents in need.

“People should not be on the streets particularly in these extreme cold temperatures” said the Community Development and Health Services Commissioner, Jelena Payne. “We want to remind people that there are three licensed shelters in our community that have the capacity to assist people in need of shelter or other services”.

The three licensed locations are:

Welcome Centre Shelter for Women (Services for Single Women or Families) at  263 Bridge Ave. (519-971-7595)

The Salvation Army (Services for Single Men) at 355 Church St. (519-253-7474)

Downtown Mission (Services for Single Men, Women and Families) at 875 Ouellette Ave. (519-973-5573 or After Hours  519-973-5573)

For additional services contact: 211