Kuujjuaq fire hall ordered to be evacuated

The building that houses Kuujjuaq’s fire department has to be evacuated by October due to safety issues.

Craig Lingard, with KRG’s civil security department, says there’s not enough funding at the moment to build a new facility for the fire department in Kuujjuaq. (Photo by Dominique Gené)

Craig Lingard, Kativik Regional Government’s civil director, told KRG councillors Monday that Transport Canada, which owns the building, gave the order to leave.

The municipality has been using the building for more than 20 years.

The building is considered unsafe because of “imminent danger” posed by cancer-causing contamination, Lingard previously told councillors in November.

Now, the municipality is looking to install a prefabricated building, as there’s not enough time to a complete fire hall replacement before fire fighters have to be out of the old building.

The temporary building will be funded from a budget aimed at updating fire safety infrastructure and equipment, Lingard said.

A site has been identified near Kuujjuaq city hall on Airport Road for the temporary facility.

“It’s a challenge,” he said in an interview. “We don’t have enough for a new building.”

KRG’s civil security department is waiting for an estimate from the municipality to be sent to the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The ministry can grant approval for the municipality to directly award a contract for the prefabricated building, instead of going through a lengthy tendering process.

The KRG civil security department is also negotiating with Ministry of Public Security to fund a permanent replacement for the fire hall.

There were 95 fire incidents in Nunavik last year, according to statistics shared by Lingard during the meeting.

”Most fires are residential,” he said. “We do have some fires that are suspicious and we shared them with [Nunavik Police Service].”