Dry conditions worry residents of Lumsden

The sound of sirens is LUMSDEN putting Lumsden-area residents on edge.

On Thursday, just days after grass fires tore through the area, the iconic retreat house in the Lumsden Valley suffered extensive fire and water damage after a blaze between the building ’s ceiling and roof on Thursday morning.

Crews with the Lumsden Fire Department and Regina Fire and Protective Services responded around 10:15 a.m. and quickly had the fire under control at the Living Skies Retreat and Conference Centre before noon.

“When the guys arrived on scene, they found a fire in the roof,” said Lumsden Fire Department Chief Jeff Carey, adding it was difficult to get at the flames in the space between the ceiling and roof of the building.

Because firefighters had difficulty seeing how bad the fire was, crews had to cut out a large portion of the roof.

“There’s quite a fair amount of fire damage and a lot of water damage. There’s a significant amount of smoke damage throughout the building, as well,” Carey said.

He said the cause of the fire is unknown but that work was being done on the retreat’s roof earlier Thursday.

With a series of wildfires tearing through grass and property in the area recently, the community is anxious about dry conditions.

It’s only mid-May, but a number of out-of-control grass fires have burned near communities, including Lumsden.

“In a word, people are nervous,” said Randy Bogdan who manages the Esso station in Lumsden.

He was impressed by how quickly firefighters extinguished the fire at Living Skies Retreat — a place of spiritual renewal for thousands of people during the past five decades.

“You think of Lumsden, you think of that building,” Bogdan said. “That first fire we had a while back was a big eye-opener because of how quickly it spread.”

Tucked in the hillside overlooking the Qu’Appelle Valley and the town of Lumsden, the retreat centre is a Saskatchewan landmark that opened in 1963 as St. Michael’s Retreat.

It was home to the Franciscan Friars of Western Canada for more than half a century before it was sold.

“Everybody is a little bit edgy because of all of the fires that we’ve had,” Bodgan said.

“There’s been too many. It’s so dry. In two days we went from four inches of snow on the ground to nothing.”

TROY FLEECE The Living Skies Retreat near Lumsden is a Saskatchewan landmark where thousands have gone over the decades for spiritual renewal. It was hit by fire on Thursday and sustained smoke and water damage.