A major fire at at hangar at the Mohawk Airfield on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory continues to burn Friday morning.
The airfield is used by the First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) flight training program.
Damages are estimated to be well over $10 million as the hangar housed 13 planes, including some that dated back to WWII.
Crews from Deseronto, Mohawk and Napanee fire stations responded to the call.
The school released this statement on its official twitter account:
“On the evening of Thursday, Feb. 24, the hangar at the Mohawk Airfield at Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory became fully engulfed in fire. Multiple fire departments were called to the scene, and efforts to extinguish the fire are currently ongoing.
All staff and students were successfully evacuated from the premises and no injuries were reported at this time. Students who are living on site have been evacuated to offsite premises and are safe.
The adjacent buildings (Student Residence, Aviation Simulator Building and Indigenous Learning Centre) are not current affected by the fire. Further updates will be provided on Friday.”
FNTI offered a further comment:
“All staff and students that were on campus have been accounted for and were unharmed by the fire.
Nine students are currently living in the residence building. The students were quickly and safely evacuated and are being housed in a local hotel. All available services are being offered to the students at this time.
While this is a devastating loss to our community and it means that our program will pause temporarily, we are already looking at recovery options.
Finally, FNTI would like to thank all our partners for the tremendous outpouring of support. We look forward to working with all of you to help us rebuild this program.”