Fire at Regina community fridge ‘deliberately set,’ city says

The fire that destroyed a community fridge in Regina’s North Central neighbourhood on Tuesday evening was a case of arson, according to the city’s fire department.

The City of Regina said an investigation by the fire department concluded that the fire “was deliberately set.”

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The findings have been shared with the Regina Police Service, the city noted, and the fire department will collaborate with police during their investigation.

Firefighters were called to the scene of the fire on the 3000 block of Dewdney Avenue just before 6 p.m. The fire department said the blaze was quickly contained to an exterior structure, and no injuries were reported.

“We’re pretty devastated about it,” volunteer Noelle Seidlikoski told 980 CJME on Wednesday.

“It really doesn’t just impact the people who use the fridge for access to food, it has quite the impact on community members, neighbours, volunteers and some of our donors, as well as people that we’ve partnered with who help support us with such generosity over the years.”

Seidlikoski said the damage represents a total loss, and noted that the community fridge was approaching its fifth-year anniversary.

The fridge is meant to provide food to those in need around the community, Seidlikoski explained.

“It’s a place where there’s no judgment, there’s no hoops to jump through to get to food, there’s no forms to fill out. It’s simply just: take what you need and leave what you can,” she said.

Seidlikoski said a lot of community support went into building the first fridge, especially from the pharmacy that owns the land. However, she acknowledged it would take a lot of time and effort to rebuild another one.

“We just hope people don’t lose hope, especially at this time of the year when it can be a struggle for folks,” she said.

“We want to rebuild and hopefully we can come back stronger in the future.”

The fridge is accepting donations through a GoFundMe page, as well as through its official email.

– with files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick and Daniel Reech