Massive fire destroys WW II-era hangar in Edmonton

Flames and smoke engulfed Edmonton's Second World War-era Hangar 11 as the historic building north of downtown was destroyed by fire Monday night.

Located at 109th Street and 117th Avenue, the building wason the site of the city's former municipal airport.

The large building at Edmonton's Blatchford development, located just west of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, was one of the last surviving structures of its kind.

The 7,400-square-metre hangar was constructed of wood andbuilt in partnership with the U.S. militaryin 1942 as part of acritical channel to deliver aircraft and war materials to allied forces on the eastern front during the Second World War.

Ryan Lee, curator at the neighbouring Alberta Aviation Museum, watched a significant portion of the building collapse Monday night in disbelief.

"It's completely gutted, there is absolutely no saving it and I just watched it collapse about five minutes ago," Lee told CBC News. "It's pretty scary. There's very little original buildings left at the [former] airport here.

"It's pretty gutting to see it go."

WATCH | Fire breaks out at former Edmonton airport:

Raw: Blaze in Edmontons Blatchford area

6 months ago

Duration 1:18

A massive fire was raging in Edmontons Blatchford neighbourhood on Monday, April 22, 2024 at around 7 p.m. MT.

A spokesperson for Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said the call for the fire came in around 6:56 p.m. There were a total of11 crews on scene Monday night, with heavy smoke and flames visible throughout the evening.No injuries were reported.

As of Tuesday morning, the fire had not yet been called under control and crews remained at the scene

The fire, including cause and the total cost of the damage caused,remains under investigation.

"There's a lot of history in that building that we're not going to get back," Lee said.

Due to smoke from the fire, NAIT has temporarily closed its main campus. In a statement, school officials said poor air qualityhas been detected in its buildings andall students and non-essential staff are asked to stay away from the main campus on Tuesday.

Once the smoke dissipates,air quality assessments will be conducted to ensure classes can safely resume, school officials said in a statement Tuesday.

Jordon Ashley, who lives nearby, said he saw a lot of heavy smoke around 8 p.m. Mondayand came to see what was happening

"[It's] the destruction of a historic building, honestly, I wish I could've visited it myself but I didn't have the chance," he said.

The airport was closed in 2013 for residential redevelopment and there were discussions that the building was going to be repurposed by a private company.

A website for the redevelopmentdescribes it as "one of Edmonton's most exciting up and coming new development projects. A building rich in history, preserved, restored and modernized, to offer a world-class building where commercial and residential come together to build community."

Hangar 11 recently became a designated Municipal Heritage Resource.

The historic hangar was included on the National Trust for Canada's 2017 list of the country's 10 most endangered buildings.

Transitservice was temporarily cancelled to the new NAIT-Blatchford Market LRTstation during the fire, but has since resumed regular service.