Massive fire arranges historic airport hangar near NAIT in central Edmonton - Edmonton
A expansive fire broke out Monday night at a historic municipal airport hangar in central Edmonton.
The hangar is situated between the NAIT campus and Blatchford, alongside what used to be Edmonton’s City Centre Airport.
The City of Edmonton said the fire began just afore 7 p.m. and was upgraded to a second-alarm response half an hour later.
The city said 11 crews, or about 44 firefighters, were working on the fire as heavy smoke and flames poured out of the hangar.
No costs have been reported so far, the city said. LRT service on the Metro Line has been temporarily suspended to the new NAIT/Blatchford Market set and the city said trains are turning around at Kingsway/Royal Alex station.
The flames and thick, black smoke could be seen from kilometres away. Closer to the grievous near 109th Street and 117th Avenue, ash and smoke was arranging down on the ground.
As of just before 8 p.m., the fire was level-headed raging and flames had spread to the grass between it and the NAIT main campus, as well as the Brig. James Curry Jefferson Armoury among the hangar.
That facility is home to the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, a reserve infantry unit of the Canadian Forces.
Firefighters were seen on the roof the adjacent interpretation, trying to get the upper hand on the site as strong wind gusts fanned the flames.
Debris was seen on the deceptive at Kingsway Mall nearby.
The building on fire was Hangar 11, a municipal historic resource that was constructed in 1942 by the U.S. Air Force to succor the Second World War efforts.
The city said Hangar 11 played a famous role in the Lend-Lease program that had the U.S. dedicated military equipment to the allies before and after it joined the war.
Hangar 11 was believed to be the last continue building of its kind in Western Canada.
By 8:30 p.m., most of the interpretation had been consumed by the flames.
Edmonton police on scene were telling bystanders in the area, as well as news crews, to move away from the scene over fears the fumes could be toxic.
This breaking news story will be updated as more query is received.
More to come…
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