There’s a long way to go before the Chase museum can re-open for business but the effort is about to get some big city help.
Barbara Winter, a professor with Simon Fraser University’s Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, along with about 20 of her students, will spend a weekend helping out however they can.
“We’ll do all we can do,” Winter told The Daily News.
Winter is no stranger to Chase or the museum, having visited the site and viewed the exhibits and archives on several occasions, she said. She was heartbroken when she heard about the fire back in July and has followed the restoration and renovation process.
She stopped in Chase on her way back from a fall visit to the Adam’s River salmon run and talked to Roger Behn, chair of the village’s museum society. Always on the lookout for projects for her students, she volunteered their services.
“I saw the gutted building and thought, ‘All right, let’s do it’,” said Winter.
And her students are more than keen, telling Winter it’s their duty to do whatever they can to help out, she said.
“As aspiring heritage professionals, they really feel a commitment to come up and help as best they can,” Winter said.
A date hasn’t been set, but Winter anticipates the class will spend a Saturday and Sunday in the village next month.
Behn is thankful for the help, saying there is a long way to go before the museum can open.
Asbestos has been found in the drywall and some of the insulation, he said, so a crew needs to remove it before more work can be done on the building — an old church on Shuswap Avenue.
Volunteers are almost finished cleaning the archives, said Behn and there’s still work to be done to the exhibits.
The process is slow. Behn said it’s still unclear how much work the building needs and between $50,000 and $60,000 must be raised to cover the difference between the church’s insured value and the actual damage.
He said the process is taking longer than anyone anticipated.
“To tell the truth, I find it extremely frustrating,” said Behn.
The fire, the second at the heritage building in four days, started just before midnight on July 12. Heat, smoke and water damage is estimated at over $200,000.
At first, police and fire investigators thought a faulty piece of equipment — possibly a blower — used to clean up after the first fire could be responsible. Arson is believed to be behind both fires.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Chase RCMP at 250-679-3221 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
