Smoke billowing from Memorial Arena in downtown Kamloops early on Feb. 13. (Photo via Victor Kaisar)
Kamloops firefighters made relatively quick work of a fire outside Memorial Arena early Sunday morning, Feb. 13.
Crews responded just before 1:30 a.m., as a plume of smoke could be seen above the historic downtown arena, which has been used as a temporary shelter since May 2020.
Within about ten minutes, the smoke had greatly diminished, as firefighters focused on a portion of the roof, a door, and a staircase on the east side of the arena, where the fire was sparked.
The extent of the damage is not known, however a City of Kamloops employee who was there to look at the damage told NL News that the staircase would likely need replacing.
“Thank goodness no one got hurt,” he said.
It is not known how many people were currently still living at the Memorial Arena shelter, as the Kamloops branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association was in the process of moving people to the new 50-bed Merit Place shelter at the old Greyhound bus depot in Sahali.
A CMHA employee told NL News that 16 people were moved on Thursday, Feb. 10, with another 12 moved on Friday, Feb. 11. The employee also told NL News that he was preparing to drive some more people who were displaced by the fire over to find shelter for the night.
While firefighters battled the blaze, shelter residents were gathered outside the Kamloops Curling Club next door, being tended to by EMS and security guards. The RCMP also had Victoria Street blocked off between 7th and 8th Avenue for about an hour.
At this time, it is not clear what caused the fire at Memorial Arena.
It is the fifth blaze that Kamloops Fire and Rescue has responded to in the past two weeks. On Tuesday, Feb. 8, firefighters quickly put out a fire at the former Montana’s restaurant on Hillside Drive.
Friday night, Feb. 4, they were called to the former Red Sea Auto Sales building on Tranquille Road followed not long after by a fire in an empty house at the corner of Nicola and Fourth Avenue early Saturday morning, Feb. 5.
They were also called to a fire in a vacant house on Fifth Avenue, between Battle and Nicola streets, on Jan. 28.
The two vacant houses downtown are slated to be demolished as part of the Kelson Group’s massive City Gardens project.
Tons of sirens in downtown #Kamloops as @KamFire and @KamloopsRCMP respond to a fire at Memorial Arena.
The sirens woke up me. @RadioNLNews pic.twitter.com/sBKOWyeNLw
— Victor Mario Kaisar (@supermario_47) February 13, 2022
