For nearly 80 years, the Mira Boat Club has been a fixture along the Mira River in Cape Breton. Now, the community centre’s future is in limbo after fire ripped through the building just before the long weekend. “We’re devastated,” said boat club commodore Carol Anne Drake. “It doesn’t make any sense that this could happen to the Mira Boat Club. So, it’s awful.” The fire happened Friday morning at about 2 a.m. “The security system that was installed reacted to the heat, which was wonderful, and fire was on the scene very quickly,” said Monica Matheson, the boat club’s treasurer. Otherwise, Matheson figures the building likely would have burned to the ground. The upstairs, which had just been renovated, is now charred rubble. “Windows were shattered,” Matheson said. “The heat melted the unit, the heating unit. The bar that was brand new just last year is just gone. It’s burned. It’s history.” As a result of the fire, the boat club has cancelled its activities and events for the rest of the year. “We don’t know why,” Matheson said. “That’s the big question is, ‘Why?’” Nova Scotia’s Office of the Fire Marshal is investigating and confirmed it is treating it as suspicious. Cape Breton Regional Police are also looking into the fire. Matheson and Drake said police have been given surveillance video from the night the fire happened. They added the next step is to work with insurance to determine whether the building is salvageable. “It’s been in the community for a very long time and we will rise again,” Drake said. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
