Last night (Feb 24th), at around 11PM, the hangar at FNTI’s Aviation Campus became involved in a massive structural fire. Fire services from Tyendinaga, Deseronto and Napanee responded to the call.
Unfortunately, the hangar structure and all the equipment stored inside (FNTI’s entire aircraft fleet and the Aircraft Maintenance Operations equipment and office) were lost. The adjacent buildings (Indigenous Learning Centre, Flight Simulator Building and Residence) were impacted by the heat from the fire, but do not appear to be seriously damaged.
All staff and students that were on campus have been accounted for and were unharmed by the fire.
Nine students are currently living in the residence building. The students were quickly and safely evacuated and are being housed in a local hotel. All available services are being offered to the students at this time.
While this is a devastating loss to our community and it means that our program will pause temporarily, we are already looking at recovery options.
Finally, FNTI would like to thank all our partners for the tremendous outpouring of support. We look forward to working with all of you to help us rebuild this program.
Nia:wen, Miigwetch, Anushiik
All media inquiries can be directed to Cathie Findlay, Government Relations & Communications – FNTI (cathief@fnti.net)
