The Memorial Gym next to the Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre is out of commission, at least for a while, following a fire on Thursday night.
Investigators say the building’s smoke alarms were triggered around 10:15 p.m. Rec centre staff saw smoke coming from the main floor on the south side of the building and called 911.
North Vancouver City Fire Department members arrived with 30 members and attacked the fire at its source – a crawlspace used for storing ladders and barricades.
“Crews worked extremely hard to contain the fire and keep it really to its area of origin,” said fire Chief Dan Pistilli. “We had to pull some walls down just to check for extension in the walls. The building is 1940s construction, so… it’s kind of a mixed bag of construction.”
Nobody was in the building at the time and there were no injuries.
“Crews did an amazing job to save the building,” Pistilli added.
There is a daycare on the third floor that has been evicted, at least for the short-term, and dodgeball players will have to find a new venue while the city has the damages assessed.
“The restoration company will come in today once we have completed our investigation and they’ll take it from there. But there are definitely no activities, no daycare, no gym activities or anything like that until further notice,” Pistilli said. “RCMP are there with us but there does not appear to be any sort of malicious intent.”
