Massive fire destroys WW II-era hangar in Edmonton | CBC News

Trevor Howlett · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 22, 2024 10:38 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

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 was on the site of the city's former municipal airport.  

A spokesperson for Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said the call for the fire came in around 6:56 p.m. There were a total of 11 crews on scene, with heavy smoke and flames visible throughout the evening. No injuries were 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."

WATCH | Fire breaks out at former airport grounds: 

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.

Due to smoke from the fire, NAIT has temporarily closed its main campus. In a statement, school officials said poor air quality has been detected in its buildings and all 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. Monday 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.

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 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 historic hangar 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 during the fire, but has since resumed regular service.