RCMP say fire that destroyed historic N.S. sawmill and museum not criminal, but locals have doubts
Fire marshal's office did not investigate fire that broke out June 8 at Bangor Sawmill Museum
Six months after a fire destroyed a historic sawmill and museum in Nova Scotia's Digby County, RCMP say there is no evidence that a crime took place — a conclusion that has left the head of the commission in charge of the building's operations unsatisfied and searching for answers.
The fire at the Bangor Sawmill Museum on the Meteghan River started in the early morning hours of June 8. There were no injuries.
Denise Comeau Desautels, president of the Bangor Development Commission, said locals believe the fire was deliberately set, pointing to the fact it broke out at 4 a.m. in the sawmill section of the building where there is no electricity.
"There's no way that the fire could have started by itself," said Comeau Desautels, whose organization led a community effort in the 1980s to restore the 19th-century water-powered turbine lumber sawmill.
The sawmill section was destroyed by the fire, but the 85 firefighters who arrived were able to extinguish the flames before they engulfed the attached museum. The damage was severe enough that the entire structure had to be knocked down. There were no surveillance cameras.
At the time, Comeau Desautels told CBC News the building was about to be approved as municipal and provincial heritage sites. People in the community were "very devastated" by its loss, she said.
Comeau Desautels said no one from the commission was contacted by the Office of the Fire Marshal or the local fire department chief regarding the fire. Neither was her husband, Gilles Desautels, despite the fact he was the last known person inside the building before the fire. He was also not contacted by RCMP, he said.
Desautels, a retired Mountie, said he asked Meteghan fire Chief Kevin Saulnier if he was going to get in touch with the fire marshal's office to investigate.
"The fire chief said to me, 'We're not going to get in touch with the fire marshal because there is nothing left and there won't be anything to investigate,'" Desautels said in an interview.
Saulnier declined a request for an interview, but he told CBC News he took photographs of the debris and sent them to the fire marshal's office.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the fire marshal's office said the office did not investigate the incident.
"Each fire is different, and a decision on whether the [office] is required is based on individual circumstances," said the statement. "In this case, the local fire chief advised that the building was a total loss, and they were bringing in an excavator to assist in the extinguishing of the fire."
Comeau Desautels has written about her concerns in letters to Premier Tim Houston and Allan MacMaster, then minister of communities, culture, tourism and heritage. She said people are "perplexed" as to why a smaller fire in August at public washrooms in Belliveau Cove attracted the attention of the fire marshal's office, while the museum fire "was not considered significant enough for investigation."
"The community is left with many unanswered questions," she wrote in an August letter to MacMaster. "There is growing concern that the Meteghan fire chief may not have adequately handled the situation, resulting in the fire marshal's failure to investigate the destruction of this historical site."
The RCMP sent CBC News a statement Tuesday saying officers canvassed neighbours for information and video surveillance as part of their investigation into the fire.
"We also issued an appeal to the public for any new information that may advance the investigation," they said.
The Bangor Sawmill Museum was uninsured. The Bangor Development Commission said it is fundraising and plans to at least rebuild the museum portion of the building.
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