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 sits on the site of a former airport.
A spokesperson for Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said the call for the fire came in around 6:56 p.m. There are 11 total crews on scene, with heavy smoke and flames at the site. No injuries have been reported.
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.”
A massive fire was raging in Edmonton’s Blatchford neighbourhood on Monday, April 22, 2024 at around 7 p.m. MT.
The large building at Edmonton’s Blatchford development, located just west of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), was one of the last surviving structures of its kind.
The 7,400-square-metre hangar was constructed of wood and built in partnership with the U.S. military in 1942 as part of a critical channel to deliver aircraft and war materials to allied forces on the eastern front during the Second World War.
“There’s a lot of history in that building that we’re not going to get back,” Lee said.
Jordon Ashley, who lives nearby, said he saw a lot of heavy smoke around 8 p.m. and 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.
There were discussions that the building was going to be repurposed by a private company. A website for the redevelopment describes 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 building was included on the National Trust for Canada’s 2017 list of the country’s 10 most endangered buildings.
Transit service was temporarily cancelled to the new NAIT-Blatchford Market LRT station, but was expected to reopen late Monday.
