Nova ScotiaFire broke out at what was once the Morrison High School building early this morning.Residents and officials say the old building has been a longtime concern for the communityOlivia Piercey · CBC News · Posted: Jul 10, 2025 10:47 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoResidents say the fire started just before 7 a.m. this morning. (Kyle Moore/CBC)Cape Breton firefighters are responding to an ongoing structure fire in Glace Bay that’s forcing some residents to evacuate their homes. The fire broke out in the former Morrison High School building early this morning, according to residents. The cause is still unknown but officials say there will be an investigation by the fire marshal to determine what happened. Twelve crews are on site with fire trucks trying to extinguish the blaze and prevent it from spreading to nearby homes. Police are going door-to-door and fire officials say nine houses have been evacuated. Some residents have been seen leaving the area with suitcases. Marlene Gillard and her husband live in a house next to the school site. They grabbed passports, medication and family photos before leaving their home of 27 years. Fire crews are trying to prevent the blaze from spreading to other nearby structures. Some residents are being asked to leave their homes as a safety measure. (Kyle Moore/CBC)Gillard said it’s hard to evacuate a house she put years of work into.”I hope our houses are OK,” she said. “But as long as we’re safe, we’re good.” The building stopped functioning as a school in 2010 and has been vacant in recent years. It is not known if anyone was on site when the fire started. “We knew it was going to happen,” said Gillard. “If only they had taken the school down when we told them to.”The old school building has been a concern for residents for years, said Cape Breton municipal councillor David MacKeigan.”I’ve been hearing from them since the day I got elected that they were afraid this was going to happen.” MacKeigan said the fire department had made plans in case a fire broke out at the old school.”We never wanted to get to that point,” he said. “It’s very worrisome.… These old buildings, they’ve got to go.”Chief John Chant of the Glace Bay fire department said all departments that responded have been preparing for a potential fire at the school for two years, including on-site training nights.Chant said the crews have been successful in stopping the fire from spreading to homes on St. Catherine Street, which has been their priority. But he said damage to the building from Hurricane Fiona in 2022 made it impossible to fight the fire from inside. “We tried to do an internal attack and through the danger and the debris inside, we could not make it upstairs,” he said. “We pulled our firefighters out and went defensive.”Chant said he expects it will take the rest of the day to put out the fire. He said the team has been active since midnight and this is the second major fire they’ve responded to today. “We have some very tired firefighters.”John White, MLA for Glace Bay-Dominion, posted about the incident on Facebook. He thanked the crews for their ongoing efforts and encouraged residents to avoid the area. “Please be mindful of emergency scenes and do your part by staying clear so our first responders can do their job safely and efficiently,” White said in a post.With files from Kyle Moore and Anna Rak
Fire at former high school forces evacuations for Glace Bay residents
