Aftermath
The intersection of Frood Road and College Street remained closed to traffic for most of the weekend as police investigated the fire.
On September 22, the city's acting fire chief, Dan Stack, explained the fire department's findings regarding how the fire went back out of control after initially appearing to have been doused:
| “ | At some point we thought we had it contained. But with compartmentation, in a building that's been added on and added on, it got into some of the other compartments. Once we opened up some of these other compartments, we had another situation of a lot of flame. So then, we had to redirect our attack. The way the building was constructed, the way the beams ran through the building ... and when you do construction in a building that's 60 years or better in age, you don't rip off roofs, you add on. So what happened is it got caught up in some of the beams and ran along and we couldn't get at it. | ” |
At the same press conference, the office of the Ontario Fire Marshal confirmed that the blaze was being investigated as a potential arson. The Greater Sudbury Police Service issued a request for information, offering a $1,000 reward for tips given to the city's CrimeStoppers line. The Steelworkers locals in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, as well as the head office of United Steelworkers International, later made additional donations which resulted in the reward being increased to $15,000 on September 29.
After accepting many equipment and furniture donations from the community, the union moved into new temporary offices at 128 Pine Street on September 26.
The Greater Sudbury Police Service announced on November 3, 2008 that two 12-year-old boys had been arrested in conjunction with the fire. The boys reportedly poured a flammable accelerant into one of the building's outer ventilation ducts, which they then lit with a match. Under the provisions of Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act, the two cannot be publicly identified in the media.
Full demolition of the building began in January 2009.
In June 2009, the Steelworkers chose not to build a new facility on the original site, but instead purchased a former grocery store, which was shut down by the Loeb chain in February 2009, as the new hall. The new facility, located at 66 Brady Street, is 29,000 square feet (2,700 m2) in size. The union held the new hall's grand opening on January 26, 2012.
Read more about this topic: Sudbury Steelworkers Hall
Famous quotes containing the word aftermath:
“The aftermath of joy is not usually more joy.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)