The Regional District of East Kootenay reports that the first step in the repair of the main building of the Kimberley Transfer Station is now underway as crews remove the exterior siding and begin the reconstruction process.
READ: Overnight fire at Kimberley Transfer Station
The building sustained extensive damage when a fire broke out inside the structure in July.
“We have been working with the insurance adjusters, structural engineers and our construction contractor and have been given the green light to begin the re-construction,” says RDEK Environmental Services Manager Kevin Paterson.
The first step in the re-construction is to remove the damaged siding before re-cladding the exterior. “We want to get the building up and operational to the public as quickly as possible. We expect this first phase to take approximately two months to complete and will keep the community informed as we get further into construction and have a more firm timeline,” adds Paterson.
Although the transfer station was partially re-opened to the public three days after the fire, anyone with larger residential loads - including all of the municipal garbage trucks - have had to divert to other locations.
READ: Rebuild in the works for Transfer Station
The RDEK hopes that the full construction will be complete in early 2019. The cause of the fire has been determined to be a combustible within a bag of garbage and the total damage to the building is estimated at over $300,000