Overnight blaze destroys family’s Edmonton reclaimed building material business

The owner of Architectural Clearing House says she's "devastated" after a Wednesday night fire destroyed the business.

Brenda Mydlak could only stand and watch late Wednesday night as her family’s central Edmonton business was engulfed in flames.

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Her brother had called her at 10 p.m. to tell her their Architectural Clearinghouse was on fire.

By morning, the store that was dedicated to salvaging, reclaiming and recycling good building materials from being thrown away – and owned by Mydak’s family for the last 31 years – was destroyed.

Mydlak told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday afternoon it’s too early to tell what caused the fire that saw the wooden roof collapse onto the building full of reusable building supplies and fixtures such as doors, windows, sinks and toilets for sale.

“It was shock and a heartbreak and just awful,” she said outside the smouldering wreckage on 119 Street between Kingsway and 115 Avenue. “This is our family business. This is how we feed our families and pay our bills. Now, four families are trying to figure out where we go next.”

The blaze was reported around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to Edmonton Fire Rescue Services. The first crews to arrive called a second alarm; in total, 10 crews were sent to the scene.

Firefighters brought the fire under control at 2:30 a.m. and didn’t call it out until 7:30 p.m. the next day.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dave Mitchell and Alex Antoneshyn