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Fire damages Creston teachers’ association building

A Railway Boulevard building that has been home to the Creston Valley Teachers’ Association for about 20 years was damaged by fire on Saturday afternoon...
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Fifteen firefighters attended a blaze at he Creston Valley Teachers’ Association building on Sept. 10.

A Railway Boulevard building that has been home to the Creston Valley Teachers’ Association for about 20 years was damaged by fire on Saturday afternoon, only hours after CVTA president Becky Blair left the premises.

“We don’t believe the fire was suspicious in nature,” RCMP Staff Sgt. Bob Gollan said on Monday.

“We won’t be able to get in to assess the damage until tomorrow (Tuesday),” Blair said. “The biggest loss would be our history — like handwritten meeting minutes from back to the 1970s.”

Blair said she was working at the office, a small home renovated only last summer, until 10 a.m. Neighbours called in a fire alarm at about 1 p.m.

Intense heat from the fire started a neighbouring fence to burn and eavestroughs on the same house were damaged as well.

Blair, like Gollan, said there is no reason to suspect the fire was intentionally set.

“The building has a security system and it didn’t go off,” she said.

The CVTA uses the building for meetings and Blair, the association’s full-time president, works from an office to provide services to members.

News of the fire brought in a flood of offers from other teachers’ associations, Blair said, and an unexpected offer from School District No. 8 (Kootenay Lake) Supt. Jeff Jones.

“Jeff called me at about 10 p.m. on Saturday to offer office space and a work crew to help with cleanup,” she said. “I was astounded and grateful to receive such a kind offer, but that’s who Jeff is — everything he does comes from his heart.”

Blair said she hopes that her efforts to store paperwork in Tupperware containers last year will help preserve archives that were stored in the basement.

“My heart aches for the history that could be lost,” she said. “But we won’t know what we have lost until we get into the building.”

“The building was fully involved by fire when firefighters arrived at the scene,” Creston Fire and Rescue Chief Bruce Mabin said on Tuesday. “The fire was venting through the southeast corner and through the eaves at the roofline.”

Nine Creston firefighters were joined by six Canyon-Lister Fire Department volunteers who responded to the mutual aid call.

“Fortunately the building was unoccupied at the time,” Mabin said.

Damage to the building is estimated at $130,000. Two neighbouring homes damaged by heat sustained about $8,000 in damage.