A bible camp near Dauphin was evacuated Monday afternoon after an aggressive fire leveled one of the facility’s buildings.
Dauphin Fire Chief Cameron Abrey said the blaze broke out at around 2 p.m. Monday in a bathroom in the main facility of the Dauphin Bible Camp, about 320 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
Abrey said several staff and about 12 campers were in the building when they noticed smoke. He said the evacuation was immediate, and all staff and campers were already accounted for when fire crews arrived on scene.
Abrey called the evacuation ‘flawless’, and said staff and campers were well prepared for the emergency situation.
“This is one of those incidents where practice makes perfect,” he said.
Members of the Dauphin Fire Department arrived to find the facility, which includes a kitchen, dining area and chapel, consumed by flames.
Abrey said firefighters couldn’t enter the building due to the threat of collapse, so they battled flames defensively from outside. The 41-year-old structure collapsed within 10 minutes of when crews began working to extinguish the fire, Abrey said.
Emergency crews battled the blaze for about 7 hours. Abrey said firefighters had to be swapped out every 20 to 30 minutes due to the humid weather and intense heat given off by the flames.
Abrey said an investigation revealed the fire originated from an electrical box in a boys’ bathroom.
The Fire Chief credits the community and camp staff with helping crews battle the fire.
“We have to commend all the staff and volunteers and neighbours who were up there assisting with everything. Not only were staff assisting with all the pickups, they were directing traffic,” he said.
“We had local farmers that were running a water shuttle and filling up a reservoir to help fight the fire.”
