Historic church building burns down near Redberry Lake

A historical Polish Church building near Redberry Lake burned down Thursday afternoon.

The site is just under an hour east of the Battlefords.

The fire follows a string of church burning incidents across the country, coinciding with the recent discoveries of unmarked graves at residential school sites in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. There was no immediate comment from law enforcement on the cause of the blaze but images captured of the scene shows the blaze spreading quickly.

“It’s sad. The landmark is gone. Unbelievable, ” Lynn Swystun is heard saying while taking a video of the fire. Her family looked after the building. The video was forwarded to media by her sister-in-law Lenore Swystun. The church was a historic landmark for the area.