SHELBURNE, N.S. — The Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club has sustained fire damage to its kitchen and extensive smoke damage throughout the building after a blaze broke out in the historic waterfront property on May 19.
Shelburne Volunteer Fire Department Chief Darrell Locke said the commercial fire alarm activation came in at 7:55 p.m. Firefighters arrived on the scene in just over five minutes.
“Upon arrival smoke was coming out from the eaves and around the windows,” said Locke. “Just as we arrived fire broke out through the windows in what ended up being the kitchen, so we made a strong and aggressive interior attack and we were able to confine the fire to the kitchen area. The rest of the building received extensive smoke damage but the fire was confined to the kitchen area,” he said.
There was also some smoke damage to the Osprey Arts Centre, which shares the building with the yacht club, but because of the separation in the building it was limited, said Locke.
“What an incredible job our firefighters did last night to keep the fire to where it was,” said Locke. “That’s a large building that's been renovated from a boat shop back in the day to what it is now. To keep that confined within that kitchen was a remarkable job by our firefighters.”
Firefighters were on the scene for two-and-a-half hours. A truck and crew from the Island Barrington Passage Volunteer Fire Department also responded.
Locke said the building was secure when firefighters arrived on the scene “so we don’t suspect any suspicious activity at all.”
The building is owned by the Town of Shelburne and is insured.
On its Facebook page Monday the yacht club said, "SHYC will be closed until further notice. The kitchen is extensively damaged and although we have not seen the rest of the club we have been told that there is smoke damage only. We do not have an official cause of the fire yet and will have to wait for the insurance adjuster to assess the situation before we can pass on any further information. Our grateful thanks go to the many firefighters who responded very quickly and worked hard to limit the damage to the kitchen area only. We are also extremely thankful that no one was injured."
