Full cost of Happy Valley-Goose Bay fire won't be known for some time, says mayor
A fire tore through a former airport hangar in Happy Valley-Goose Bay overnight Friday. Mayor George Andrews says plans are in the works to look into the safety and soundness of other abandoned buildings to prevent future fires. (Heidi Atter/CBC)
Normality is returning after a fire rocked the Happy Valley-Goose Bay air hangar over the weekend, the Labrador town's mayor says, but one resident is questioning whether enough was done to contact people in the area who needed to evacuate.
The fire started Friday evening at the town's former airport and forced an evacuation order for some residents. The town declared a state of emergency while the blaze was at its peak.
"Things are good now. You know, the fire burned out pretty good on Friday evening through Saturday, and now I guess it's just into an investigative stage and then I guess a clean up stage," Mayor George Andrews told CBC News on Monday morning.
He added there have been no reported injuries.
Around 9 p.m. the town's fire chief and the Royal Canadian Air Force fire department chief made the call to pull back from the fire.
On Saturday a survey of the site found large cylinders that had come from the building, he said, which seemed to have been "propelled" several hundred feet, which Andrews said confirmed that the decision to pull back was a prudent one.
"That was a good call at the time and possibly prevented … serious injury," Andrews said.
Miscommunication on the ground, says resident
Andrews declared a state of emergency and ordered the evacuation of the north side of the community.around 9:30 p.m. on Friday, just as crews were retreating.
"We opened our emergency operations centre and things went smooth from there," he said.
However, resident Monica Legge disputes that it went off without a hitch.
Before leaving her home, she said, she spoke with an RCMP officer who was guiding traffic and asked the officer if the people across the street had been notified of the evacuation order.
Resident Monica Legge says her neighbours were overlooked by the RCMP in notifying people about the evacuation order. (Rhivu Rashid/CBC)
Legge said the officer told her no, because they weren't aware there were residents.
"I quickly ran across the street to the building across from us and let those people know that we were being evacuated. They had no idea. And then I thought, 'Better go and check on some of the other neighbours,'" said Legge.
She checked on another neighbour, who was home, and told him they had to leave. Legge said she also called other people to let them know about the evacation. She said they hadn't been notified.
"They didn't go around and let everybody know," said Legge, estimating eight out of 25 people in the area were notified.
Legge said she suspects because she lives in an area zoned general commercial, police assume people don't live there.
She said she wants to see a policy change and more communication between town and RCMP on where residents live.
Andrews said the issue will be looked into later this week, adding the area is mostly an industrial zone, though there are several homes in the area and that some might not be listed as residences.
Lessons learned
Andrews said town officials will take a "serious look" at the abandoned buildings in town. He said the town had been in communication with the owner of one of the buildings that burned down for remediation and to possibly tear it down.
He said the financial cost of the fire will be determined after the investigation concludes and the properties are returned to the owners, he said, and then the insurance companies will come into play.
There was an oxygen plant on the site, he said, which is also a big loss to the community.
Andrew said the next steps are for the fire chief and firefighters to participate in the investigation.
"Later this week we'll have a [meeting] to look at what went well, what challenges come up and how we can address our plan and our emergency plan and going forward," he said.
"So we'll have a busy next few weeks for sure."
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