A fire early Sunday morning at Clancys’ restaurant in Lac La Hache has destroyed yet another South Cariboo landmark.
Lac La Hache Volunteer Fire Department deputy chief Roger Hollander says an early warning triggered by smoke detectors allowed the sole tenant to get out of the building safely, but the main building, housing the restaurant, gift shop and an upstairs suite, was levelled by the fire.
Angela Dolan owns Clancys’ along with her husband James. She says they found out when they arrived to open for the day.
“It was a devastation; we lost everything,” she says. “It was a shock yesterday when we went to work and there it was fully engulfed.”
Hollander says the call came in at 3:56 a.m. April 17 and 11 members and all four trucks were dispatched to the scene to find heavy smoke and flames inside the structure.
Mutual aid calls had 100 Mile House Fire-Rescue and both the 108 Mile Ranch and Greeny Lake fire departments, for a total of 35 firefighters and 11 fire trucks, battling the blaze.
Hollander says the fire was difficult to control due to its location at the rear of the building away from windows, and access to spray water. Winds steadily picked up and spread the flames, he adds.
Crews successfully kept the outbuildings protected, he notes, and they kept up a diligent effort for almost 12 hours before the fire was fully extinguished and cleaned up by around 3:30 p.m.
The fire also burned through a significant TELUS cable, immediately cutting off phone service to 3,300 customers in 100 Mile House, 93 Mile House, Williams Lake and surrounding areas until being fully restored later that night.
Shaw also experienced interruption in television and Internet service as far north as Prince George.
While the repairs didn’t take too long, Shaw spokeperson Chris Kucharski says workers had to first wait for the area to be clear of heat and smoke.
“They would be (motivated) anyway, but of course having a Canucks game starting ... we wanted to make sure that we got our services up and running.”
Angela Dolan explains they plan to rebuild Clancys’ and will open again as soon as possible.
“I’d like to thank the community for all their support and patronage, and the firefighters especially for giving it their best.”