Stanley said the amount of damage and the costs of fixing it, it is going to put the Scouts group back significantly on what they can provide and offer the youth. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

For almost 100 years, the 1st Nanaimo Scouts Hut has been the meeting place for Scouts to develop skills, make new friends and contribute to the community. Now after a fire and break-in, the future of the historical hut is uncertain.

The log cabin, an official heritage building, was first built in 1926 by four teachers who wanted to give back to the Scouting community. The hut, located at Comox Gyro Park is the base for the 1st Nanaimo Scout Group, which offers Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Venturers and Rovers programs for youth ages 5 to 20.

Along with the Scouts, the hut has been used as a meeting spot for Girl Guides, Alcoholics Anonymous, and church groups, as well as currently hosting the space for several different dance groups on the weekend. About 150 to 200 people use the hut regularly every week, with about 100 Scouts that use the hut every week.

But in the last three weeks, the hut has seen a fire and break-in, both on separate days, causing enough damage that the hut had to be shut down.

Jordan Stanley is the commissioner of the 1st Nanaimo Scout Group and oversees the group and the hut. CHLY met with Stanley at the hut only two days following the break-in where the smoky smell of the fire from weeks earlier still lingered in the space.

Stanley said he has been a part of Scouts Canada since he was five years old when he was a Beaver. Now 40 years later he is still with the Scouts giving back to the community that meant so much to him.

“My enjoyment is giving back. Being someone that came up through the program, being a youth member all the way through, I got a lot of enjoyment out of it,” Stanley said. “I got exposed to a lot of different things that I probably wouldn't have had I not been involved in scouting, a lot of different skills, and then, as when I did my time as a Scouter, as a Scout leader, being able to pass those skills on.”

It was on October 16, when Stanley was woken up at 4 a.m. by a call from the fire department telling him that a fire had started on the porch of the hut and had to be put out.

Stanley said the fire mostly caused damage to the outside. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

“The fire burned one of the exterior corners of the building. Not a significant amount of damage inside, some water damage, smoke damage, but the fire department did have to cut the hinges and break a door to get in to confirm that the fire hadn't spread anywhere else,” he said. “We were lucky that it was just located on the outside.”

But the damage to the building did not stop there.

This past weekend on Sunday, October 27, they were informed by one of the dance groups that the front door of the hut had been damaged and it seemed like someone or a group of people had broken in.

“They had actually broken in and had ransacked the kitchen, our storage area, and actually had stolen quite a bunch of gear,’ he said. “We did get quite a bit of it back the same day, when the RCMP came, took a look around, and then kind of went off and found some of it fairly quickly. But the front door has been severely damaged to the point that we've got it barricaded and secured as best we can, but it needs to be replaced.”

Stanley said they have gotten about 80 per cent of their gear back but due to the damage to the door, they have had to shut down the hut until the door can be fixed.

The damages have led to costs that the group may not be able to afford.

“We're a nonprofit, we're a volunteer-based organization. We make a bit of rent from the organizations that rent the hall, and outside parties that rent the hall. It's enough to basically cover keeping the lights on and keeping the natural gas going so that we can keep the hut warm in the winter, that's about it. We're not a rich group, we're not a wealthy group,” he said. “We focus on a catchment area for youth from downtown central Nanaimo and south Nanaimo. We have a high proportion of youth that get sponsored or supported through Scouts Canada's No Scout Left Behind program, and these incidents really hurt us.”

Stanley said the door was severely damaged during the break-in. Photo courtesy of Jordan Stanley

After the fire, Stanley said they have insurance to cover the fire damage, but with it being an almost 100-year-old hut, the deductible on it is significant. They are still waiting on the insurance adjusters to get back to them with a report with their estimates to see if it's worth going to an insurance claim, or if it's something that the group can do themselves with donations of material and labor from either within their group or outside partners.

But now with the damage from the break-in, the group is having to decide which of the damages they want covered as the damage to the door will also not be an easy and cheap fix.

“Our issue right now is we have one claim open with the fire, if we do another claim for the theft and the breach, that's another deductible. Right now, covering one deductible, we can do it.” Stanley said. “Two deductibles? We definitely can't do that, that would kill us. So it's going to be a kind of which one are we going to choose?

He said that the amount of damage and the costs of fixing it is going to put the Scouts group back significantly on what they can provide and offer the youth. This could lead to the point that they have to look at if they can even continue to operate.

Stanley said that he fears the fire did more damage to the building than they know. If this is the case, they may have to replace logs, and that he said would be over and above what their insurance would cover.

As they wait on the report and figure out how they will fix the door, the Scouts are now having to meet at outdoor locations for the time being. Stanley said there are a lot of disappointed and frustrated Scouters who miss their regular meeting spot.

“For a 100 years the hut has been here–yes, we've had little incidents here and there, mostly graffiti on the side of the building, some minor vandalism on the front deck, but nothing to the point of someone lighting a fire on a wooden deck outside of a wooden log cabin like that,” he said

Stanley said they have gotten about 80 per cent of their gear back. Photo courtesy of Jordan Stanley

Prior to the fire, the group had discussions about what they could do to secure the porch area as they knew it was a typical spot for people to hang out at or sleep after hours. Stanley said 9 times out of 10 they never had a problem with the people who did so, but now following the fire and break-in, they will be looking at options for security or getting an alarm system or cameras.

Right beside the hut, École Pauline Haarer Elementary School has security that patrols the grounds including those around the hut. Stanley said he has also been trying to work with the City of Nanaimo to get more street lights in Comox Gyro Park as currently there is only one in the park, leaving the hut still in the dark at night.

To help cover the costs of the repairs, Stanley has started a GoFundMe to help cover the cost of repairs and will be sending out donation letters to community partners, construction companies and other businesses to get support or donations of repair supplies.

He said that he fears that the group and the hut may not be able to recover and continue following the damages, but he said there is still hope.

“I'm very hopeful, because Scouting has such a strong history, not only in Nanaimo, but in B.C. as well. Like I said, I grew up in Scouting, being involved for 40 years. I know there's strong ties –especially in Nanaimo– to Scouting to this hall. Anyone who did scouting in Nanaimo, whether it was 1st Nanaimo, 1st Departure Bay, Neck Point, they know about the hall,” he said. “My first exposure to the Scout Hut was coming down from Kamloops when we were going to the island to do spring break hikes, we would stay here. That goes back to the early 90s. So there's a huge tie to this hall, and I don't see that changing or fading because of this fire.”

Stanley said this experience will bring the Scouting community, and the Nanaimo community as a whole, a bit closer, as they find a way to save the place that built youths for the last 100 years into future leaders.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.