Faulty heater to blame as small fire strikes Flin Flon Legion

The Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 73 remains open for business following a small fire last week.

Firefighters were called to the Legion hall around 4:30 pm last Thursday, Oct. 27 after a fire was reported. Firefighters quickly doused the flames.

An investigation traced the fire’s origins to a faulty electrical heater above the hall’s entrance.

“The relay wasn’t working correctly and the electrical heating element overheated and caught fire,” said Fire Chief Chad Cooper. “No one was hurt, and there was no structural damage.”

The Legion will continue normal operations.

“We’re open right now,” said Legion president Bob Njegovan. “It only had to shut down (Thursday) night because we had to get the majority of it cleaned up. Basically we had to shut down for five hours.”

While the structure of the hall itself was not damaged, there was smoke and water damage near the faulty heater.

“It just caused smoke damage more than anything else, and we’re getting that cleaned up right now,”  Njegovan said the day after the fire. “The heater has to be replaced. We’ll have to take down gyprock and replace it. There’s a little bit of water damage, smoke damage.

“It probably looked a whole lot worse than it actually was. It’s still going to be a costly repair. We haven’t found the total costs, but that’s what we’re looking into now.”

Firefighters were able to put out the fire before it reached vital structural beams and material.

“The heater was roof-mounted, and we had to pull down some drywall around the heater to make sure there was no extension in the two-by-fours,” said Cooper. “If it hit those two-by-fours, it could run all the way up into the second floor and into the attic space. It was a quick response, and we were able to put it out before it extended further into the building.”