The flames danced a deadly ballet across the night sky on Monday, consuming a piece of Edmonton’s history. Hangar 11, a once proud structure that had seen countless aircraft come and go, was now a raging inferno. The call had come in at 6:54 pm, sending Edmonton Fire Rescue Services scrambling to the scene beside NAIT’s main campus.
District 1 fire chief Jessica LaMer grimly informed reporters that the hangar, designated a historic resource, was already fully engulfed upon arrival. “The interior of the structure was fully involved,” she explained, “There was no interior attack possible. Sending anyone in would have been unsafe.”
The battle raged on. The hangar’s wooden construction, coupled with strong winds, had created a perfect storm of fire. LaMer highlighted the challenges, “It’s a huge fire load. With the high winds, the fire spread rapidly.” Additional resources were called in, their priority to contain the blaze and prevent it from jumping to nearby structures.
The fight continued through the night, a stark reminder of the fragility of history in the face of such raw power. Whether the firefighters could save Hangar 11 from its fiery demise remained to be seen.