A fire at a central Edmonton church over the weekend caused about $350,000 in damages.
Edmonton fire crews were called just after 2 p.m. Sunday to the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of the First Peoples, located in the McCauley neighbourhood in the area of 108 Avenue and 96 Street.
The person who called 911 reported seeing flames coming out of the back door and second floor of the church, according to Edmonton Fire Rescue Services.
The fire was brought under control by 5:17 p.m. and fully extinguished by 9:14 p.m., EFRS said in a statement Tuesday.
Father Mark Blom said it’s been a busy couple of days since the fire.
“I’ve been run off my feet attending to insurance adjusters and health and safety people and the clean-up folks and all the experts who come and determine whether a building is safe and what has to be done next,” Blom said.
“So very busy since the fire started on Sunday afternoon.”
The church is 107 years old. Only one piece of sacred art was damaged, Blom said.
At this point, it doesn’t appear the church sustained any major structural damage, according to Blom. Their goal is to rebuild as quickly as possible.
“The structure is damaged where the fire took place — some of the rafters are going to have to be replaced — but the integrity of the building doesn’t appear to be in question,” he said Tuesday.
“This church stood witness to the Spanish flu, that terrible pandemic, and now we’re finding spiritual support in this pandemic.
“A challenge like a fire like this, it really is a nuisance, a challenge, but we have insurance, no one was hurt and when we’re finished working through this we’ll have a stronger, better building and we’ll have a community with more heart in it.”
The investigation into the fire determined the blaze started on the ground floor of the building and spread into the walls and ceiling.
A spokesperson with EFRS said Tuesday that the fire started on the counter in the corner of a room, “when smoldering or non-extinguished components from a ceremonial smudging process were improperly discarded into a metal coffee can that was partially full of cedar/herbs and other combustibles.”
Total damages are pegged at $350,000 — $300,000 to the structure and $50,000 to contents.
No injuries were reported.