WILKIE — Residents looked on in disbelief Oct. 9 as smoke poured out of Wilkie’s Saskcan Community Centre and firefighters set up stations all around the building.
The community centre holds Wilkie’s community hall and both the hockey and curling rinks.
First called to the community centre fire at about 3:30 p.m., the Wilkie Volunteer Fire Department was on site until 11:30 p.m. Firefighters continued to conduct patrols of the building through the night.
Although the engineers’ report is not finalized, it would appear the hockey and curling rinks received the least amount of damage, excluding smoke damage, while the central lobby, food booth, kitchen and hall were destroyed.
The official cause of the fire has not been released and the Office of the Fire Commissioner will conduct an investigation. Eyewitnesses say the fire started in a large electrical panel when rink staff attempted to start the ice plant.
The rink staff called the fire department and evacuated the building, including two Elections Canada workers and two voters who were at the federal election advance poll being held in the hall.
Comments such as “I feel sick to my stomach” and “You hear of this happening in other communities and think how terrible that must be, but you never really think it will happen in your own town” were made by residents as they watched firefighters enter and exit the building.
A press release by the Town of Wilkie, issued Oct. 13, said, “The centre is the main source of activity for the community during the winter months and any interruption of services is a devastating loss to the community.”
The fire created the need for changes in venue. Elections Canada moved the remaining days of the advance poll to the town office. Election day polls have been moved to the former St. George School at 104 - 7th Ave. W. in Wilkie.
A number of other events booked for the community hall have been moved to the gym at the former St. George School, including a harvest dance scheduled for this weekend.
Flu shot clinics Oct. 28 and Nov. 9 have been moved to the New Horizons Hall in Wilkie.
The senior men’s Wilkie Outlaws hockey team, who held 100th anniversary celebrations in the community centre just two months ago, were looking at ice time in Unity, Biggar and Battleford for their games and practices. Whether the hundreds of fans who turn out for home games “at home” will travel to home games “away” remains to be seen.
Wilkie Minor Hockey, with initiation, novice and atom teams, held an emergency meeting Oct. 12. Options were discussed and all teams’ parents made the decision to skate out of Cut Knife this year. The Town of Cut Knife discounted ice time fees for the Wilkie teams.
The Wilkie Minor Hockey association had made a bold move this year in an effort to increase their numbers – charging no registration fees or ice time costs to initiation and first-time novice players. The strategy had worked, according to the executive. Now that parents will have to drive out of town for games and practices, it remains to be seen whether those new players, or even some of their other players, stick with the sport.
The curling club was holding a meeting the evening of Oct. 14 to discuss their options.
With shock and disbelief still evident in residents’ faces and voices when discussing the fire, and with the town saying, “The extent of the damage to the facility will take some time to be fully determined, "the full effects of the Oct. 9 fire at the Wilkie Community Centre are also not yet “fully determined.”
