$2M of damage after fire destroys Kuujjuaq office building
Quebec provincial police are investigating an early-morning fire that destroyed an office building in Kuujjuaq. The building was home to the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services youth protection division.
Police have pegged the damage at about $2 million.
"It's too bad that we lost a whole building like this," said Elena Labranche, assistant executive director of the board. "But for the services, it's going to be back to normal as soon as possible."
She said the fire department told her it got a call about the fire around 2 a.m.
Right now "it's a scramble" to find out where the board is going to place the 26 employees who normally occupy the building, said Labranche.
But the data lost in the fire isn't a concern, because all of it is backed up at an off-site location, she said.
Fires that completely destroy a building are "very rare" in Kuujuuaq, Labranche said.
Sureté du Quebec's major crimes unit is investigating the fire.
With files from Nick Murray
