At least two sections of a main water line along 103 Street from the Al Kareem Mosque to Portage College broke on Wednesday night as fire crews fought a garage fire behind a home in the area. The water breaks could affect dozens of homes on the south side of the Lac La Biche hamlet until Thursday afternoon.
The blaze was called in at about 8:30 pm. The garage, located behind a home just east of the mosque, was completely engulfed when fire crews arrived at the scene. Police and peace officers blocked the road around the scene from 94 Avenue to 99 Avenue. There were no reports from emergency officials of injuries relating to the blaze, and neighours say no one was in the garage at the time of the fire. The blaze took 90 minutes to extinguish, and completely destroyed the building and contents that included at least one vehicle and several pieces of commercial food preparation equipment.
Hundreds could be without water
As fire crews attacked the blaze, Lac La Biche County crews were busy isolating at least two obvious water line breaks on the street that were sending small streams of water across sidewalks and along the gutter.
While fire crews mopped up hot spots, RCMP and municipal peace officers were going door-to-door informing residents that water service would be affected until at least noon the next day.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.