Fire destroys old schoolhouse
Total damage estimated at $150G
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KOHLER – The old one-room school house in Kohler west of Cayuga burned this week.
The alarm was called in to Haldimand firefighters around 3 a.m. Tuesday. When they arrived at 279 Link Road, the structure was fully engulfed in flames.
No injuries were reported. A resident who lives across the road said the building had been abandoned for a number of years and was in a derelict state.
“There wasn’t much in it, nothing really other than raccoons, rats and mice,” the neighbour, who asked to remain nameless, said Tuesday morning. “It’s sad to see it go up in flames but it was in bad repair.”
Firefighters from Cayuga, Fisherville, Jarvis, Hagersville and South Cayuga attended. Total damage is pegged at $150,000.
“The roof had collapsed prior to arrival,” Haldimand fire chief Jason Gallagher said in an email. “A defensive attack was quickly established along with aerial operations. A rural water supply was set up quickly and effectively.”
An old sign on the front lawn identifies the structure as the former Kohler Community Hall. The neighbour said a reunion was held at the location in 1995 to celebrate the school’s 100th anniversary.
The resident said firefighters at the former Kohler fire hall next door to the structure looked after the hall while it was a community centre. That arrangement ended about 10 years ago when Haldimand re-organized its network of fire halls.
This included closing the fire hall in Kohler. Afterward, the neighbour said, the community centre was essentially abandoned and began to decline.
MSonnenberg@postmedia.com
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