Building at Bloomfield School site destroyed in early morning fire
CBC
A vacant north-end Halifax building that was previously described as an "immediate safety risk" by a fire inspector caught fire early Sunday.
One of the buildings at the Bloomfield School site, located on the 2700 block of Agricola Street, was destroyed.
In a tweet, Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency said they were called to the site around 1:35 a.m. AT.
It called the fire "significant and quickly developing." It said it took about four hours to extinguish the blaze.
A morning tweet from the Halifax Professional Fire Fighters union said the fire "escalated quickly." In a statement issued later in the day, the union said firefighters faced difficult conditions at the scene, including cold temperatures, freezing hoses and frozen air packs.
It said that as many as 44 firefighters responded, which represents about half of the daily minimum for firefighting staffing in the municipality.
Ryan Charlton was on his way to work at the Halifax Shipyard Sunday morning when he spotted lots of smoke in the sky. Travelling down Robie Street, he stopped and took some photos and video of the fire around 4 a.m.
"It was massive flames," he said.
The fire department said crews are still at the scene to put out hidden fires.
The fire's cause is under investigation.
Some of the roads in the area are closed to traffic.
In a news release issued at 6:10 a.m., Halifax police said Robie Street between Almon and May streets is shut down, as well as Agricola Street between and Almon and McCully streets.
Police expect traffic restrictions to last throughout the morning.
The Bloomfield School property has been the subject of a dispute between the city and the developer who owns the property, Alex Halef of Banc Investments Ltd. The developer purchased the property in January 2021.
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