
Fire at St. Andrew's Church in downtown Kamloops/via Jon Keen
The City of Kamloops says engineers are continue to assess the damage at the historic St. Andrews on the Square nearly two months after a suspicious fire.
Cultural Services and Events Manager Dusan Magdolen says the City is still working towards its goal of reopening the 137 year old, fully-wooden, building within a year.
“These things take time unfortunately,” Magdolen told Radio NL. “They’re going to start with the roof first, and once they determine what needs to happen there, they’ll start to move on the interior of the building, and get those things upgraded.”
“What order that’s going to happen, I’m not 100 per cent sure, that’s in other people’s camp, but I think that’s the next steps, the engineers and then moving into starting to put it all together.”
Kamloops Deputy Fire Chief Ryan Cail said crews were able to contain the fire – which broke out on the morning on May 2 – to mostly to the exterior of the building, as well as the attic. He did say there was the possibility of smoke and water damage inside the building.
“You could tell where the damage was when you walked though the building, even right after the fire,” Magdolen said, when asked if there was an update on the damage caused to the building. “I think for me personally, I don’t think its been worse than what it looked like initially.”
Magdolen says a number of people who had bookings St. Andrews on the Square this year chose to take the City up on its offer of an alternate venue at no charge.
“Everyone has been accommodated that wanted to be accommodated, and I think people understood that its not anybody wanted this to happen,” he said. “From what I’ve heard, people were pretty understanding, and we tried to be as good as possible waiving the fee and putting them somewhere else if we could.”
At this time, its not clear how much the restoration work will cost, though Magdolen notes the expectation is that most – if not all – of it will be covered by insurance.
According to the City, 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.