There are plans to rebuild the NT Air hangar at the Prince George Airport (YXS).
No firm direction has been taken, said airport spokesman Todd Doherty, but a new structure may soon be underway to replace the one lost in a dramatic Dec. 19 fire last year.
The inferno (a cause was never determined) brought the entire vintage structure to the ground, displacing primary tenant NT Air and a number of other businesses who had office or industrial space in the building.
It was also home to the city's air ambulance service.
"We have been working with the family (the building was owned by the Martin family) to build a new hangar," Doherty said.
"It is their goal and ours to get that business back up and running again. It is in the design phase right now and we hope to be breaking ground in early spring, but the sight has to be tested to ensure it is suitable to have a structure there again. We are optimistic about future developments there but it is not certain quite yet."
Doherty estimated there were about eight businesses that had to find other accommodations on the airport's campus. NT Air itself is now headquartered in space made available for them in the main terminal.
The air ambulance service found a base at the Esso hangar on the east side of the terminal. A portable building is now home to another of the displaced businesses, and others were absorbed into other spaces on the grounds of YXS.
"When I drove up that day and saw that building engulfed in flames, my first thoughts were 'I sure hope nobody was lost in that fire' and the secondly 'what a terrible loss of a piece of important Prince George history," Doherty said.
Thankfully, no one was lost in the fire although mystery still surrounds the coinciding disappearance of co-owner Vernon Martin.
The history element, however, is gone forever at least in physical form. The Second World War-era hangar was one of many built with the same design in B.C., but few remain and installing a replica would likely be cost-prohibitive for a private sector developer in the modern age.
It was not easy to make accommodations for everyone affected, said Doherty. He indicated there is certainly a need for an additional hangar now, and with the air cargo and passenger activity hoped for in the airport's near future, there is all the more reason to develop a new structure.
