Kitcisakik council offices destroyed by fire

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A major fire broke out declared in the Kitcisakik council building Wednesday morning.

Radio-Canada

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Hard awakening for the community of Kitcisakik. A fire broke out in the Kitcisakik council building this morning.

In a video broadcast on the networks social workers, the former leader of the community, Jimmy Papatie, helplessly described the scene.

Here, we are not equipped with fire services like Val-d’Or. The fire accelerates with the wind and the windows burst and bring in more oxygen, therefore more fire, he noted shortly before the arrival of firefighters from the City of Val-d'Or .

The Sûreté du Québec received the emergency call around 7 a.m.

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The fire started is declared early Wednesday morning in the Kitcisakik council offices.

Alert, the chief of Kitcisakik, Régis Penosway, also came to see the damage. He says the building is a total loss.

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As it is there, it n&# x27;there is no loss of life or injury, he indicated in an interview on the show Des matins en or shortly before 9 a.m.

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The firefighters of Val -d'Or traveled to the community of Kitcisakik to put out the blaze.

We have a lot of our documents administrative staff who are there. That's what I'm thinking about right now. It's still an office that we've had for more than fifty years, added the community leader.

Jimmy Papatie claims that the fire started in the basement of the building. Important documents and archives are located there.

It's a part of our history that is going up in smoke .

A quote from Jimmy Papatie

The fire is not suspicious according to the director of the Val-d'Or fire safety service, Éric Hébert.

The community of Kitcisakik is located in the La Vérendrye wildlife reserve, approximately 90 kilometers from Val-d'Or. The director of the Val-d'Or fire safety service deplores the lack of equipment in Kitcisakik to fight major fires.

We do not have an agreement and we do not offer protection in the La Vérendrye wildlife reserve. This is an exceptional case this morning. It was following the call from the community leader that we headed here to intervene and also support them in this tragedy for their community.

A quote from Éric Hébert, director of the Val-d'Or fire safety service

He emphasizes that the flames had already caused considerable damage part of the building while firefighters cover the kilometers that separate them from the community.

We have no fire department and that is one of the things we must now look at.

A quote from Régis Penosway , chief of Kitcisakik

Régis Penosway also expressed his gratitude to the Val-d'Or firefighters who came.

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Éric Hébert wants to help Kitcisakik develop a fire safety service.

They have equipment, but for fires of this type, it is ineffective. It's not easy with rudimentary equipment when we don't have the skills and tools to deal with such situations, observes Éric Hébert who plans to support them in training volunteer firefighters.

The firefighters had to use their own tanks. They could not get water from the drinking water tank. The other tank they have, they had problems with it, hence our presence too, he said.