Band Office Burns

A very sad event occured early Friday morning, October 28, here in Bella Coola. The Nuxalk Nation Band Office burned. It started very early, as yet of unknown cause. There have been various rumours, such as, it was caused by the pop machine, which the day before had been spitting out quarters for some unknown reason, or, it was caused by cigarettes which smokers smoked on the front deck, and then put the butts, lit(?) or unlit, into an old coffee can, or it had something to do with the council meeting that went until 10:00 p.m. the night before. But at this point, there is no official cause. The fire burned all day, and was still burning at 9:45 p.m. when I went by for my evening run. All four local volunteer fire departments were on site. In the afternoon, there was also a helicopter dumping water on the building. Fortunately, no one was hurt. But besides the virtual total destruction of the building, which was only a few years old, the worst thing is the records that were destroyed - finance, health - probably everything. And we were supposed to be getting the flu shot, given by the health nurse for the band, but, the vacine was stored at the band office......

More coming later on Halloween fun!