Press Release
17 January 2025
Early this morning, a fire broke out at the Blueberry Community School. This building was a multi-use building that has been in the community for over 30 years. Everything from community gatherings and funerals to adult education, Head Start, and cultural events took place in this building. The fire started quickly and engulfed the entire building, and unfortunately, the community’s firefighting capacity is insufficient to fight any fire of size due to the reservoir capacity. Blueberry River leadership will not speculate on the cause of the fire, and an investigator will be issuing a finding in the coming week. There is high-definition video footage that captured the fire starting. Leadership is thankful that there was no loss of life. We would like to thank the RCMP for their quick response and help. Council would also like to thank all the community members who reacted quickly to keep the fire from spreading and to save nearby assets, but, due to the lack of water, the building could not be saved. We would like to state that Blueberry River has no agreement with the City of Fort St John for firefighting due to the distance. This is a tremendous loss for the community, and we will be rebuilding as soon as possible.
Council
Blueberry River FN