It’s been one month since the Kimberley Transfer Station was engulfed in flames in an over night fire, and good news is on the horizon.
Kevin Paterson, Environmental Services Manager with the Regional District of East Kootenay, says that tearing the building down won’t be necessary.
“Our structural engineer indicates that the transfer station superstructure, or frame, is fine so it doesn’t look like we’ll have to do an entire rebuild,” explained Paterson.
He adds that they will need to put in a new roof and siding, along with rebuilding the staff lunch room and facilities.
“It’s good news in that respect, hopefully that will expedite our rebuild process,” Paterson said. “We’re working with the insurance company, who are reaching out to various contractors in the area to provide those services.”
In terms of the timeline for completely reopening, Paterson says he’s not sure at this time.
“We’ll wait to see what sort of timelines and feedback they [insurance company] gets from some of the trades in order to do that work,” Paterson said. “We will definitely be rebuilding. I don’t want to speculate on a timeline…but it certainly won’t take as long as it would if we had to rebuild the entire structure.”
The Kimberley Transfer Station is currently open on a limited basis with limited capacity. The RDEK is asking residents to bring only small household loads. Any larger commercial loads need to be taken to the Cranbrook Transfer Station or Central Subregion Landfill. The reuse shed is open and garden waste is accepted. Mattresses and boxsprings will NOT be accepted and will need to be taken to the Cranbrook Transfer Station where they can now be recycled.
The Cranbrook Transfer Station is located at 2405 22nd Street North and is open between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. daily.
