The most iconic part of a picturesque boardwalk in Telegraph Cove, British Columbia, was destroyed by fire Tuesday morning.
Several buildings in the northern Vancouver Island tourist destination appear to be completely missing. The whale museum is no longer standing, nor is a complex that housed several businesses, including the Old Saltery Pub.
“Those were the treasures, those things at the end of the pier,” said David Summers, Mount Waddington regional director for Telegraph Cove.
“This is all a great tragedy.”
Firefighters were called to the coastal community around 5:30 am. They brought the flames under control around 11 a.m. and continued to put out hot spots throughout the afternoon.
Earlier in the day, the fire department in the nearby town of Port McNeill posted a photo of the flames on Facebook and asked people to stay away from the area.
“People coming down to look are hindering our crew’s efforts to extinguish,” the Port McNeill Fire Rescue post reads.
Firefighters from three other departments (Port Hardy Fire Rescue, Hyde Creek Volunteer Fire Department and Alert Bay Fire Department) also responded to the scene, Port McNeill firefighters said in an update around 9:15 a.m.
A firefighter battles a fire in Telegraph Cover, BC (Image credit: Alert Bay Fire Department)
“They came from all over the North Island and did a great job saving the rest of the boardwalk,” Summers said.
The Port McNeill department said the fire burned beneath the boardwalk, making it difficult to extinguish.
“This is a devastating loss for the North Island,” the department said in its update.
Formerly a fishing village and cannery, Telegraph Cove has been a popular tourist destination for many years. The permanent population of the village and surrounding electoral area was 371 people at the 2021 census, according to Statistics Canada.
Summers said he plans to ask the provincial and federal governments to help rebuild what has been lost.
“This is an international destination, so I would like to think that all levels of government would come together to help them rebuild it,” he said.
“Everything on the North Island is beautiful, but it was our treasure.”
