Officials with a historic racquet club that was gutted by fire earlier this week say efforts to recover important documents and equipment are continuing with the goal of removing all “salvageable items” from the rubble by the end of next week.
The six-alarm blaze at the Badminton and Racquet Club of Toronto on St. Clair Avenue burned throughout the day Tuesday and wasn’t actually declared under control until the early hours of Wednesday morning.
In a memo sent to members late Friday night, the club said that staff along with a restoration contractor continue to visit the premises under the supervision of engineers and are in the process of removing salvageable items.
The memo, however, says that many areas of the building “remain unsafe” and cannot be accessed at this point.
“By the end of next week we hope to have all salvageable items out of the building,” the memo says. “This has been a huge team effort with staff from multiple departments pitching in.”
Power temporarily restored
The club previously said that staff are focusing their efforts on recovering “items of value,” including art, computers and servers, financial records and archival materials.
In the memo released on Friday, the club says that they have also been able to supply temporary power to the building through the use of generators.
“This will allow us to get heat into the building to assist with drying out the structure on the west side of the club,” the memo says.
Fire officials have previously estimated the total damage from the fire at well above $1 million.
The building dates back to the late 1800’s and had been operated as the Badminton and Racquet Club of Toronto since 1924.
