The VI Raiders are looking at another massive financial loss courtesy damage to their practice equipment and facility at Caledonia Park. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

BIG BLOW

‘It’s a huge sack to the organization:’ VI Raiders practice facility badly damaged by fire

Jul 12, 2022 | 2:33 PM

NANAIMO — It’s another major setback for the VI Raiders football program.

An early morning fire on Tuesday, July 12 torched a large section of the team’s building at Caledonia Park on Wall St., damaging equipment and other team belongings inside.

General manager Josh Williams told NanaimoNewsNOW they’re looking at $30,000 worth of damage to their own practice gear alone, let alone structural damage to the building itself.

“One of our main support posts and the smoke damage went through everything. A lot of our yard markers are wrecked, a lot of our bags, stuff like that. We were just slowly about to make this home then suddenly to have something like this happen, it’s a huge sack to the organization.”

Williams and other volunteer staff had been spending hours every day making improvements to the facility which has sat largely dormant for three years during the pandemic.

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The Raiders moved to Caledonia Park for their practices from their old home on Comox Rd.

“We’re supposed to have pressure washers coming in and a cleaning team this weekend, we had the paint all ordered and we were going to paint the whole building and get all that stuff ready to go for the start of the season.”

The City-owned facility will need to be inspected for structural safety before it is used again and from there, Williams said the Raiders will figure out their next steps.

Extensive smoke damage has caused thousands of dollars worth of damage after a fire was lit behind the VI Raiders practice facility on Wall St. at Caledonia Park. (Nanaimo RCMP)

It’s the second major financial blow for the team in the last year with around $15,000 of equipment, including helmets, training jerseys and speakers stolen from the team’s old facility on Comox Rd. in September.

The Raiders are just over one week out from opening their B.C. Football Conference season at their new home stadium at q’unq’inuqwstuxw, formerly NDSS Community Field.

It’s not the first time issues at the facility have come about due to ongoing social disorder in the surrounding area.

“With the City having showers here…it’s great they’re offering that but then they’re turning around and damaging our stuff. It’s hard enough to run a non-profit organization in this town, so for us to have to do stuff like that, it’s two steps forward five steps backwards.”

Nanaimo RCMP are investigating the fire and subsequent damage to the facility.

Reserve Cst. Gary O’Brien said investigators were told a person was seen in the area around the same time the fire started with smoke seen shortly after the person left.

The man was described as caucasian, around 6’0″ tall wearing a black tracksuit with white stripes down the arms of the jacket.

O’Brien added he was last seen running up the hill towards the train tracks, but police don’t know where he went from there.

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