Sackville's youth marksmanship club was dealt a huge setback last week, losing more than $20,000 worth of gear in the Enterprise Foundry fire and leaving the team without a place to practice.
But despite the devastating blow, the parents and the club's operators say they are filled with relief that none of their shooters, who were on their way to practice last Wednesday evening when the fire broke out, were in the building at the time.
"Although the team lost almost all of their equipment and practice space, they are truly grateful for their safety, that no one was in the building and no one was hurt," said Brenda Knockwood, a mother of one of the competitors.
Darlene Turner, who has three kids on the marksmanship team and helps operate the local club with her husband Rodney, said she and two of her daughters were planning to get to the foundry early for practice that night, to get the place warmed up before the others arrived.
But they were running a bit behind because her youngest daughter and a friend were getting ready for a theme night at Awana at the local church. It was on their way there that Darlene said she saw a flash out of the corner of her eye. She looked over to see flames shooting up out of the foundry.
Her first thought was to get there and get the gear out of the building.
But when she arrived and went over to open the door, she said a thick cloud of black smoke billowed out and she knew there was no way they could reach the range on the second floor to save the equipment.
She retreated and only a few minutes later, an explosion rocked the building.
"If it hadn't been for the fact that she made us late, we would have been inside," said Darlene, still in shock from the events that took place that night.
She shudders to think what may have happened had they been early for practice. If they had been in the midst of shooting their air guns with their earphones on, they may not have heard what was going on outside the range. As well, because the entryway to the range is through a long, dark corridor and then up a set of stairs, they may not have been able to escape the building easily. Or they could have succumbed to smoke inhalation.
"If we had gone in there, we may not have gotten out," she said.
Knockwood said thinking of the "what-ifs" has made everyone realize how fortunate they are for their safety.
"One thing is certain - with the location and isolation of the range in the building and how rapidly the fire spread, if the team had been in the range during the fire they would not have been able to escape."
As well, she said, the emergency responders likely would not have known to look for them until it was too late. Since the building is comprised of mostly office space and it was after working hours, they would have probably assumed the building was empty, she said.
Darlene agreed, saying the firefighters wouldn't have seen any light on upstairs because the windows are boarded up.
"If we had gone in, nobody would have known we were there."
Much of the team's equipment was lost in the blaze, including their leather jackets, pants, shoes, glasses, timers, stands, target returns, pumps, cylinders and several of their older air pistols and rifles. Fortunately, their newer competition guns had gone home with the shooters the previous week.
All in all, Darlene and Rodney Turner say more than $20,000 in gear has been lost, which is very frustrating for a club that was just gaining ground in the area.
The team has put a lot of work into raising funds for their equipment over the past few years, everything from barbecues to raffle tickets, said Rodney. The kids raised about $14,000 last year alone.
"Now we have to do it all over again," he said.
Knockwood said the team has not only worked hard to fundraise for equipment, they've also put a lot of effort into building their skills and excelling in the sport.
"This is definitely a huge setback and the future is uncertain but the team will be trying to overcome this," she said.
One of the more immediate challenges the team faces is to gather up enough gear for five of the shooters to be able to compete in Toronto at the International Grand Prix Air Gun championship in late February. This is a trip that has already been planned and paid for, said Darlene.
The team members and their parents met over the weekend and have decided to put efforts once again back into fundraisers to get the club back on its feet.
"They want to continue," said Darlene. "They've worked too hard to get where they're at and they want to keep going."
The club is also hoping to find a practice space within the next week or so but is limited because of the area needed for their range.
Overall, though, everyone is simply hoping the club will pull through in the end.
"We came out of it. We're all alive. We can continue," said Darlene.
If you're interested in making a donation, it can be dropped off at Turner's Kwik Way or contact Darlene Turner at 536-7458.
