'Hopefully we'll get through this one also': Milltown fires hit 3 months after devastating floods

The community of Milltown-Head of Bay d'Espoir is dealing with the aftermath of a series of fires set early Tuesday morning that gutted its school, town hall and police station.

• Man charged after Milltown school, town hall, RCMP station burn

Donald Craig MacHaight, 48, faces three charges of intentional cause of damage by fire in connection with fires set at the Milltown-Bay d'Espoir Town Hall, Bay d'Espoir Academy and Bay d'Espoir RCMP detachment.

Despite the hardship, the town is rallying together.

"It feels great that the community [has] come together … us as the emergency response centre, being here and available to serve meals to the volunteer firefighters and whoever else is helping out, it's just a pleasure and that's what we're here for in the community," said Melvin Ingram, president of the Milltown Lion's Club.

Just recovering from that and now we've got this.- Melvin Ingram

He said the centre opened early Tuesday morning to help in any way possible, including serving food to about 55 firefighters who helped fight the blaze.

While the fires came as a shock, they mark the second devastation for the town in just three months.

October floods cut off the community

In October 2016, Milltown was one of the communities hit with intense rain and flooding.

• Multiple states of emergency declared as heavy rains batter central Newfoundland
• Central N.L. towns rally to help repair broken communities
• 'Absolutely unbelievable' road damage, some areas still cut off

"We just done it in October … everything was devastated, so we pulled together. Just recovering from that and now we've got this," Ingram said.

"We're all pulling together. Everyone is helping out, which is good, and hopefully we'll get through this one also."