By Joel van der Veen

CRAIK — Little is being said about the cause behind the fire that levelled the Craik Eco-Centre late last month.

Town administrator Sarah Wells said Thursday the fire’s cause was “not suspicious,” but declined to provide further details.

“We’re still in contact with the insurance company,” she told the Leader. “We’re not going to say too much until the investigation is done.”

Wells said the building was insured and the policy does not require the town to rebuild the facility in order to collect a payout, but she did not reveal the value for which the Eco-Centre was insured.

Boyd Sanden, chief of the Craik Volunteer Fire Department, said his crew got the call at 9:32 a.m. on March 24.

“The whole building was full of smoke, tons and tons of smoke,” said Sanden on Tuesday. “(You) couldn’t see two inches in front of you.”

Firefighters attempted to enter through windows and spray water on the flames, but that had little effect, said Sanden, adding that the fire “took right off” when it was exposed to more air.

Within minutes, the flames had reached the eaves, while the steel roof served to trap the inferno inside that building.

Sanden said that from that point the firefighters went into a defensive mode, remarking, “We knew that we couldn’t do anything.”

He noted that the fire spread rapidly after it reached the wooden posts and beams, which had been salvaged from demolished grain elevators.

There were no injuries reported, as the Solar Garden Restaurant had not yet opened for business.

The Davidson Volunteer Fire Department attended to provide mutual aid, while Craik RCMP and Davidson EMS also responded.

Sanden said crews were on the scene well into Thursday afternoon, adding that they continued to monitor the site twice daily over Easter weekend.

Both the fire commissioner and insurance inspector visited the site on Monday to look over the building’s remains.

Sanden reported that they remained on the scene for 10 hours, but declined to speculate on potential causes.

Phone calls to fire commissioner Duane McKay and his communications staff seeking details went unreturned last week.

For a detailed look at what the Eco-Centre’s loss means for Craik, please see the April 4 edition of The Davidson Leader.