By Kayla Bruch

Hope has survived the ashes of a Melfort fire

Dec 1, 2014 | 5:05 PM

Melfort’s North East Outreach and Support Services may have lost its new domestic violence shelter in a fire, but its staff hasn’t lost hope.

“We deal with victims of domestic and sexualized violence every day in our current services and we will continue to assist those women to get to safety just as we have for the last 31 years of operation in this area,” said Louise Schweitzer, the executive director of the organization.

Early Sunday morning at around 5 a. m., the Melfort fire department was called to the shelter, which was engulfed in flames.  

“When we arrived on scene, the fire was coming through the roof on the southwest corner of the building, so from that point we just had to go ahead and do a direct attack on it from the outside,” said Melfort Fire Chief John McDonald.

McDonald said with no one inside the building, they were able to fight the fire for around 13 cold and windy hours. However, the fire fighters’ efforts didn’t stop there — they received a call-back to the scene where they fought the fire for a few more hours.

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“There was a call back in the middle of the night for three more hours because there was a flare up, so they had to put that out,” said Melfort Mayor Rick Lang.

Lang personally thanked the fire department for their work in putting out Sunday’s fire.

“We do have a volunteer fire department here in Melfort,” said Lang, which means the public doesn’t see them every day of the week. “I hope they never feel taken for granted because we certainly do appreciate what they do for us and they did a fantastic job.”

And after all the time fighting the blaze, crews were unable to salvage any part of the building.

“It’s a real blow to the community, I mean it’s probably about 12 weeks [away] from being open, and we’ve been waiting for it for a long time.”

When the outreach team received the news about the building, Schweitzer said they felt a real sense of loss.

“It was devastating, it was shocking to see,” she said.

 “We started this process in 2010, we all feel it as a massive loss and a setback for us, but it’s not the end, we will regroup, we will reassess and we will rebuild.”

It’s been a long road for the organization. The building project began in 2010, when Schweitzer and with others came together to make a difference in the lives of women affected by domestic violence.

“It’s a proven fact that Saskatchewan has the highest [provincial average] for domestic violence in Canada, were double the national average, so the need was there,” she said. “We believe in what we’re doing, we believe in why we’re doing it and we will continue to keep doing that, that’s just who we are, I guess as women and as a team.”

The building project was 80 per cent complete when the fire broke out. Without the new shelter, many women will be forced to relocate.

“It just makes it harder for them, a lot of times, if you have to relocate you then lose your support systems, the kids have to change school divisions, women have to leave there jobs,” she said.

“The building was 7,350 square feet and it would have been a domestic violence shelter with 16 beds,” she said. “It would have housed 16 women and children in a safe environment, leaving dangerous situations at home; it also would have housed our outreach and support services.”

Moving ahead from here, Schweitzer said there are a lot of unanswered questions.

“At this point, there has been a fire investigation started and the insurance claims have been processed and now we will take our direction from those,” she said.

She said anyone wanting to donate can visit their website. northeastoutreach.ca

And on Monday, Premier Brad Wall promised help from the province. The message of support came via Facebook.

“Over the weekend, the nearly completed new Women’s Shelter in Melfort burned down. Our government was there to build it…we will be there to rebuild.” 

kbruch@panow.com

On Twitter: @KaylaBruch1