BONNYVILLE – A building that once operated as a local hospital in Bonnyville for nearly five decades is no more after an early morning blaze destroyed a significant section of the boarded-up building on June 1.
Firefighters from Station 5 Bonnyville responded to the active fire predominantly in the north side of the building at 3:30 a.m. An hour later, Stations 7 Fort Kent and 8 Ardmore arrived to provide support.
By 9 a.m., crews were still on site, now with heavy equipment pulling down walls and portions of the legacy building to access hotspots still smoldering in walls and in between old cedar beams.
The fire has been deemed suspicious. Fire investigators also heard from nearby residents who suspect that people had begun moving back into the vacant building, Duclos Arms.
Evidence that the building was once again being occupied came in the form of a laundry hamper and suitcase filled with personal belongings around the building’s perimeter, Regional Fire Chief Dan Heney told Lakeland This Week.
Crews also found entry points that were covered with plywood barriers had been tampered with for access to the building.
The building that was first constructed as a hospital was bought and sold before eventually becoming a bed and breakfast in the early 90s after rezoning permits had been approved by the Town, confirmed Joseph Kopala, the Town of Bonnyville’s Safety Codes Manager.
Eventually the building was shut down by Alberta Health Services (AHS) in February of 2022 for not meeting provincial safety codes. In recent years, the building had been operating as a rooming house. An affordable solution for people with few housing options.
Heney was one of a handful of representatives from the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority, AHS and the Town of Bonnyville, who was present when the building was officially closed.
“When this place was closed people got displaced,” recalled Heney, noting that assistance was made available for those who had nowhere else to go at the time.
“Now, we suspect people have been trying to move back into the building from what we’ve seen and what the nearby residents are telling us, even though there has been no power, water or gas going to this place for about a year.”
The fact that there are people in the community trying to live in derelict buildings is a reflection of hidden homelessness in the Lakeland, shared the fire chief.
“These are often very marginalized people in our society. They are attempting to survive, but they’re not thriving,” said Heney.
The destruction of the 1935 building is a stark reminder of how quickly a historic - and relatively forgotten - landmark can be lost.
