One person dead after fire in Bridgewater, N.S., burns two residential buildings

HALIFAX — Bridgewater, N.S. Mayor David Mitchell says first responders in his town were taking action against a fatal fire Wednesday even before the 911 call came in.

The mayor of the small town about 80 kilometres west of Halifax says an officer at the police station saw smoke coming from the downtown area in the late morning.

“He mobilized immediately,” Mitchell said in an interview Thursday. “The 911 call came in seconds later and, within one minute, the fire chief was on the scene and five police officers were on scene getting people out of neighbouring buildings. But at that point, within one minute, the building was fully engulfed and nobody was able to go inside.”

Police say one resident is dead from the King Street blaze that started in a six-unit apartment building and spread to a neighbouring structure with ground floor commercial offices. Mitchell said he believes there were a couple apartments on the second storey.

Acting Bridgewater Police Services Chief Dan MacPhee said the fire was so intense that it was not safe for first responders to go inside when they arrived.

“You couldn’t have survived being in that building at that time,” he said in an interview Thursday.

MacPhee said residents and neighbours at first said everybody in the two buildings were accounted for, but officers later learned one resident was missing. He said first responders still could not access the inside, first because of flames, and then because of structural issues. They entered shortly after 6 p.m. and found the victim.

MacPhee said the building where the fire started was undergoing renovations, but there’s nothing to suggest the blaze was suspicious. He said police, along with the offices of the fire marshal and the medical examiner, are all investigating.

“There was a lot of people on the street and sidewalk that were videotaping it, not offering any aid to any of the neighbouring buildings or anybody else, not calling 911, not providing any details, which is very disheartening for our community and obviously our first responders,” MacPhee said.

Less than 9,000 people live in Bridgewater, according to Statistics Canada, and the town’s fire department says on its website that it relies on about 50 volunteers to respond to emergencies related to fires, motor vehicle collisions, or rescues on ice and water.

The mayor says 15 different fire departments from the surrounding towns also responded, including crews from nearby Lunenburg that brought firefighting boats and battled the blaze from the LaHave River that divides Bridgewater.

Police say crews hosed down a third building to stop the spread of the fire.

“It’s super emotional for me because when I went down and saw them all there in the heat with all their gear, exhausted, and yet unbelievably determined to get this thing out,” said the mayor.

Mitchell says 10 people were displaced. All were able to find rooms with friends and family except for one whom the community rallied behind and put up in a hotel. Mitchell says countless people were calling him offering beds, with local restaurants sending massive amounts of food and water.

Mitchell says his tight-knit community is shaken. The town’s community navigator is reaching out to the partner of the victim. Its economic development officer has contacted the local member of Parliament about helping to replace paperwork like passports. He said some of the displaced are newcomers to Canada.

“Our job now is to wrap our arms around the friends and family of those displaced, and those who lost somebody, and somehow move forward,” said the mayor.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2026.

Devin Stevens, The Canadian Press