Debra MacLean cried when she heard the Haley Street Adult Services Centre in North Sydney, N.S., was damaged by a suspicious fire.
MacLean, who is the centre’s director, says she was devastated when she received the call early Saturday morning about the fire.
North Sydney Fire and Rescue says they received a call around 4:20 a.m. on Saturday for reports of a blaze at the centre.
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Fire Chief Lloyd McIntosh says police were already at the scene responding to an intrusion alarm at the centre when they noticed the flames.
McIntosh says it took about 15 minutes for crews to extinguish the fire, but the building sustained significant smoke and water damage.
He says police are investigating the cause of the fire, which was deemed suspicious. No injuries were reported.
MacLean says the centre provides support and programs for adults with disabilities.
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“You sit back and say, ‘Is there someone who’s angry with us? Is there someone who we’ve had challenges with?’ And the answer just keeps coming back – no,” said MacLean.
“We’re an asset to the community, the community supports us, the neighbourhood supports us, you know there’s just really no logic to it. You’re trying to find logic in chaos.”
MacLean said the community is coming together to offer support, such as planning fundraisers and freeing up temporary spaces for the centre to run its programs.
She said she’s grateful for the support, but she’s concerned about relocating the centre’s programming.
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“A lot of the people we support are on the spectrum of autism, and structure and reliability and predictability is important for people for their self-regulation and us relocating will be a huge stressor for a lot of our participants,” MacLean said.
“Some will love it and will see it as adventure and a new experience and will embrace it, but for others it will be a major, major emotional setback for them.”
McIntosh said the incident has left him feeling angry.
“This is an organization that does nothing but good for the community,” he said.
“It just seems entirely unfair that somebody would do something – if they did do something deliberately – to this organization. It would be entirely mean-spirited and not deserved at all.”