The City of Kamloops is suggesting the historic St. Andrews Presbyterian Church may be out of commission for several months.
Dusan Magdolen, the City’s Cultural Services and Events Manager, says crews are still assessing the overall impact of the Thursday morning blaze, which includes fire damage to the back corner of the Church, as well as water and smoke damage.
“A lot of the damage to the building has come from the sprinklers and the water. The basement was flooded. The flooring is in bad shape,” noted Magdolen. “It sounds like most of the pews have been elevated by Service Master. Some of those kind of items, art items and that sort of thing, they’ve done what they can to remediate that.”
He says at this point, it could be six months to a year before the Church is able to reopen for weddings and other community events.
Magdolen says those who have bookings are being accommodated.
“What we’re looking at is for sort of a 6 month window, full refund and looking to get people into an alternate city venue, if its available free of charge,” said Magdolen. “Then people sort of in the 6 to 12 month window, we’re going to be looking at… they’ll have credit on file to either move forward or move to another facility.”
While the Church itself will be off-limits while repairs are underway, Magdolen notes Gaglardi Square surrounding the Church — a popular location for people to take photos — should be open to the public as the repair work is underway.
“As far as I know right now, I think the Square… I think that should be ok. But, again, a full plan hasn’t been put forward,” noted Magdolen. “I doubt it’s going to be a great photo opportunity for a little bit while the renovations are happening.”
The cause of the fire still remains under investigation by Kamloops Fire Rescue.
However, it’s believed a fire in a shopping cart left outside the back entrance to the Church is what set off the blaze.
According to the City of Kamloops, which maintains the building, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church is the oldest public building remaining in Kamloops.
It was built shortly after Canadian Pacific Railway construction was completed through Kamloops in 1887.
The church was built of wood in the days before brick construction in Kamloops.