‘A profound loss’: Fire destroys multiple buildings, artifacts at historic Ukrainian village

Alberta's Ukrainian community says it is devastated after flames destroyed multiple buildings at the living museum on Friday.

Multiple buildings containing local artifacts were destroyed in a fire at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village east of Edmonton.

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RCMP said officers based in Fort Saskatchewan learned of the fire that had started east of the national park behind the heritage village at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

At one point, due to windy conditions, the fire jumped to a field nearby, prompting a brief evacuation order at about 8:30 p.m. for five homes in the area.

Scott Calder, Deputy Regional Fire Chief of Lamont County Fire Services, said on Saturday that 12 crews worked in shifts on the fire overnight.

“It was a long battle,” Calder said. “Wind was a major factor in our challenges with this fire.”

Calder said three buildings at the village were destroyed. Thankfully, he added, no injuries were reported.

“It’s hard to see the damage,” Calder said. “It’s sad to see a piece of history kind of be lost.”

The morning after the fire, large patches of blackened grass could be seen around the site. Multiple buildings has been reduced to ash and rubble, with one still smouldering.

Tanya Fir, the Alberta minister of arts, culture and the status of women, issued a joint statement on Saturday with Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, parliamentary secretary for settlement services and Ukrainian evacuees.

The statement confirmed multiple buildings making up the Visitor Centre had been destroyed.

“These buildings included exhibit spaces and housed many irreplaceable artifacts that told the stories of generations of Ukrainian Albertans,” the statement read.

“This is a profound loss — not only for the Ukrainian community, but for all Albertans who value and honour our province’s diverse cultural heritage."

According to its website, the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village Society was founded in 1971 and was acquired by the province in 1975.

The village commemorates the history of Ukrainians who have settled in east central Alberta in the early 1900s and is made up of more than 40 historic buildings that have been relocated from rural communities and restored.

Orysia Boychuk, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Alberta Provincial Council, said she is “absolutely devastated.”

“This is a very important historical site for us,” Boychuk said, adding an event is being planned for August to celebrate 50 years of the museum being open.

“We are anxiously awaiting to hear what the damage is, and we know that we will rebuild and we are resilient and we will get through this.”

She said the Ukrainian Canadian Congress are collecting donations online to aid with recovery and rebuilding.

Miranda Hochacka Thompson comes from a Ukrainian family and has been visiting the village with her family for years. She drove by Saturday after hearing of the fire.

“It’s one of my son’s favorite places to come in the summer,” she said. “This place has a really special place in our heart. So this is really devastating.”

“There’s so much culture here, past, present, future,” she added. “There’s just so many pieces here that you can’t replace.”

The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village was scheduled to open for the year on May 19. It is unclear at this time how the fire will impact that plan.

Fir said more information will be provided in the coming weeks and that the province “is committed to reopening the site when it is safe and appropriate to do so.”

Wildfire season in Alberta began on March 1. Alberta Wildfire said the wildfire risk in a number of forest management areas had been elevated due to warmer temperatures and wind.

As of Saturday afternoon, there were 19 wildfires burning in the province and nine forest protection areas in the Edmonton region had fire restrictions in place.

With files from The Canadian Press and CTV News Edmonton’s Sean McClune and Galen McDougall