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Fire Burns Elders and Daycare Centre
Many people watched in tears Sunday night on June 24th as the Elders Centre and Daycare Centre suffered damage from a fire.  The fire started at around 10:30pm when Janet McDonald called the Fire Department.

Six minutes after receiving the call, the Fort McKay Volunteer Fire Department made their way up to the building up in flames with the help of Stan Laurent and his pumper truck. After assessing the situation, the team called in to request the assistance of Syncrude and Fort McMurray Fire Department teams, who arrived shortly after to help.

Even with all of the efforts from all teams, the building seemed to be destined to burn.  It was not until early the next morning when the crews were able to put the fire out.  As an act of kindness, Margaret McDonald and    Jamie McLoed cooked some pancakes for the firefighters after all of their hard work.  We would like to thank all of the firefighters for their efforts and for putting out the fire as safely and as quickly as possible.

The cause of the fire has been confirmed as accidental.  Most of the damage was done to the Daycare Centre, where the fire initially started.  Fortunately, some items were able to be saved in the Elders Centre.

Already thinking forward, Chief and Council have been in discussions of replacing the building, as plans to rebuild the building have been put on the priority list of things to do this summer.  At this point, the Elders Centre will be temporarily located in the old Wellness Centre that will undertake $20,000 in renovations. Please note that the ‘Meals on Wheels’ and ‘Head Start’ programs are still in effect and will now be delivered through the Fort McKay School.

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For more information, please contact:

Nancy Doire
Communications Specialist
Fort McKay First Nation
(780) 828-2439
ndoire@fortmckay.com




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