Image Credit: Twitter / @BlackwellMerlin

By Dave Barry

Clearwater Fire

Clearwater’s Dutch Lake Community Centre damaged in an overnight fire

Nov 28, 2020 | 9:55 AM

CLEARWATER – The Dutch Lake Community Centre has suffered heavy damage in a fire early Saturday morning in Clearwater.

A preliminary investigation suggests the fire ignited in the building’s biomass heating system. Clearwater and District Mayor Merlin Blackwell says the silo, which holds wood chips, was spotted burning around 3:00 am by a passerby. The fire spread to the nearby gymnasium area.

The building, which was once home to the Dutch Lake Elementary School, is filled with offices housing local government services including City Hall, Tourism Wells Gray, and court services among others. The damaged gym is often used by community groups for events involving up to 200 people, including today’s Farmer’s Market, which has been cancelled.

It’s damaged enough that it’s unusable,” said Blackwell. “You can see daylight out one corner of the gym at this point. I don’t expect we’ll be using the gym at any point for the rest of the winter.”

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The Clearwater Volunteer Fire Department managed to prevent the fire from spreading through the remainder of the building. In fact, Blackwell believes the offices will be able to be used Monday.

“We’re hoping, if we don’t have any hitches, that all the rest of those services (within the building) should be up and running for Monday morning,” said Blackwell. An alternative heating system will be used to heat the offices.

Blackwell says it is too early to know whether the biomass boiler’s electronics have been damaged. And he can’t put a price tag on the fire however he expects it will be well over half a million dollars.

No one was injured in the fire.