The community of Beaver Bank Kinsac is picking up the pieces after fire ravaged its community centre and adjoining volunteer fire station overnight Wednesday.
Capt. Dave Meldrum of Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Service said Thursday crews were called to the blaze on Beaver Bank Road at 11:48 p.m., and were still putting out hot spots six hours later.
He said the community centre side of the building – which houses a daycare, an RCMP community office and a public computer-access facility, was “significantly damaged” and “probably lost.”
“There was both a significant amount of flames and a large amount of smoke produced,” Meldrum said. “It was a large fire at the start but it was well under control by 6 a.m. (Thursday).”
He said the adjoining Beaver Bank Kinsac Volunteer Fire Department wasn’t staffed when the fire broke out. There were no injuries.
“There were sparks flying from the back. So I sent my son over to have a look at what was going on and he said the back deck was engulfed in flames so I called 9-1-1,” Charlotte Hazel, a long-time area resident who lives directly across the street from the fire, said Thursday.
“The next thing, the roof had fire going right over top of it.”
“Basically, the roof (of the community centre) didn’t exist by the time I got here at 12:20 a.m.,” added Lindsay Shano, who just moved to Bedford from Beaver Bank.
Shano said Thursday she heard the blaze had started in the back classroom of the daycare where she had worked. “It moved very, very quickly and all we can do is thank God it didn’t happen when someone was in there.”
Halifax RCMP closed the road in front of the building during the fire, and re-opened it to one lane only after 6 a.m. to help get morning traffic through. Meldrum said what caused the fire is still under investigation.
“We don’t have any indication of (it being suspicious in nature) at this time, but the investigation is in its very early stage,” he said.
– with files from Ryan Taplin and The Canadian Press
