Fire breaks out at former Ogden Legion building

The abandoned Ogden Legion, which has sat vacant for more than a decade, caught fire. Tyson Fedor reports.

The Calgary Fire Department is investigating a Wednesday blaze at the site of the former Ogden Legion.

Eleven fire trucks and 30 firefighters responded to 78 Avenue and Ogden Road S.E. at 2:45 a.m.

“There was actually heavy smoke in the area, and [arriving crews] thought it was a grass fire in the field across the street,” said CFD public information officer Alex Kwan. “But then they could see some visible flames through one of the doors coming out of the southeast corner of the building.”

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The building has been vacant for several years after the legion was closed.

“Due to unsafe conditions in this building, this is supposed to be abandoned and empty,” Kwan explained. “It was unsafe for our crews to go inside.”

“When it hasn’t been maintained in any condition, there’s high risk of things falling on us inside,” Kwan said. “Potential building collapse, unknown hazards. If there’s been alterations to anything, if people remove something from different areas, it just makes it very, very dangerous.”

“So, we set up two ladder trucks and flowed water from two water towers.”

Earlier this year, an Alberta court ruled in favour of the city’s plan to demolish the building.

Officials found it was deteriorating and a risk to public safety.

The building’s owner, Dean McKenzie, sought a judicial review, but that application was dismissed.

McKenzie, reached by phone on Wednesday, said the fire was “not as big” as officials said it was.

“The building is a four-hour burn time. In other words, it’s like a concrete bunker,” he told CTV News.

“The only way that there was a fire in there was somebody that used accelerant.”

McKenzie said demolition is expected to take place on the building but would not say when.

He said workers were inside the building on Sept. 30, but the fire hasn’t caused any more safety concerns.

“It’s coming down anyhow.”

It’s not known how the fire began.

“I have to say, I wasn’t surprised,” said Zev Klymochko, vice president of the Millican Ogden Community Association.

“There have been fires here before and we’ve been warning people about the dangers of this building for years now, and we just want it gone.”

“Work was going to start in October to remove the building before the winter, and we’re worried now that this fire could complicate things with a possible investigation.”

Klymochko says the appeals by McKenzie have delayed the demolition.

“Unfortunately, the owner has been fighting it and fighting it in court, and keeps appealing and finally, the last appeal was thrown out of court,” he said.

“And the city has let us know that it was going to be gone.”

No one was hurt in the blaze.

Demolition crews were on scene over the lunch hour on Wednesday, knocking down certain walls, for investigators to determine a cause.

CTV News has reached out to the City of Calgary for comment and will update this article if one is received.

Calgary police have not yet said if its arson unit is investigating.