Fire destroys Sandy Bay child welfare head office

A fire early Sunday morning burned down the main building for Sandy Bay Child and Family Services.

The chief of Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation said the structure is totally destroyed.

"It's a huge loss," Chief Lance Roulette said.

Roulette said he was woken up by a phone call around 5 a.m., letting him know the fire department had been sent to the building, which is off the main road in Sandy Bay, a community of about 3,650 people living on reserve in south-central Manitoba.

Sandy Bay fire crews spent about four hours battling the flames, with the assistance of fire departments from the nearby communities of Alonsa and Langruth.

The immediate impact of the fire was unclear, said the chief, who worried there would be "huge delays in service."

However, Sandy Bay CFS director Richard De La Ronde told CBC News on Monday that the agency already had found temporary space at the community centre in Langruth, Man., which is less than 20 kilometres south of Sandy Bay.

"If you can believe me, we're actually up and running and have our network up and running already," De La Ronde said.

The main priority Monday morning "was to ensure that there was no disruption in services to family."

The group had an emergency contingency plan in place and its execution played a major role in being back in operation so quickly, De La Ronde said.

"The morale is a little bit low … but in terms of functionality and operation, having that contingency plan, we were really quite prepared."

There has been an outpouring of support from other CFS branches, regional MLAs and MPs, De La Ronde said.

"It's been tremendous, the amount of people that want to pitch in and help us out," De La Ronde said.

Agencies have donated Christmas trees and food for the temporary work space.

There were some Christmas presents in the building, but a number of CFS vendors are helping replace them, De La Ronde said.

The next priority is to find a number of mobile offices that could be placed in Sandy Bay, De La Ronde said. The agency expects to be back on reserve next week.

Child welfare threat

The head office housed administration, family enhancement programs and social workers' offices. About two dozen staff had been based out of the main building in the community.

"It's the central hub for Sandy Bay CFS," Roulette said, who did not know exactly what had been recovered. Paper files could be lost forever, but digital files should have been saved to the system's backup server.

The CFS building manager was not available for an interview. Management and staff published a statement about the fire in a Facebook post.

"Even with the tremendous loss of our head office building on reserve due to fire, Sandy Bay CFS is committed to ensuring that services to children and families continue with as little disruption as possible," the statement says.

To contact staff previously housed at the main office, First Nations members are asked to call the Winnipeg office at 204-856-2030.

"Messages will be relayed and calls returned within a reasonable timeframe," the Facebook post says.

Sandy Bay is about 130 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

The Office of the Fire Commissioner has been unable to determine the cause of the fire because of the building's "total destruction," the provincial government announced Monday afternoon.

Damage is estimated at $600,000.

New building under construction

Sandy Bay CFS is getting a new building, Roulette said, but it will be another year before they can move in.

The old building — now destroyed — was supposed to be converted into a band office.

"Ultimately, it's a terrible thing," Roulette said.

"We're going to have to try and find another means to ensure that the program still continues."

The First Nation paid for the old building. The new building is being built through the province via CFS, and the money for it will come out of the provincial lease agreement, he said.