Calgary City Hall cleanup underway but service return weeks away

The clean up is well underway at city hall after at least three floors of the Calgary Municipal Building were damaged during a security incident on Tuesday.

With caution tape crisscrossing the halls and water damage puncturing holes in ceilings, officials say public services are still weeks away from returning.

“Our number one priority is safety of the staff working in the site to mitigate the damage. Number two is getting our service back up and running as soon as possible,” Mario Henriques with the city’s facility management said Thursday.=

The building suffered extensive water damage after a man broke in and set several small fires, which activated the sprinkler system.

A tour of the damaged areas revealed the fires were lit in multiple locations. Water damage was not relegated around the fires but spread across three floors.

Public services have been temporarily moved to other locations, including the Central Library across the street.

Henriques said while the building will reopen on Monday, those services will take a couple of weeks longer to return.

Officials say they need more time to calculate the cost of the damage.

Acting City Manager Carla Male said the damage should be covered by insurance.

“We still believe that water is migrating so things change all the time,” she said. 

“We have been in touch with our insurance department and our risk claims department. We will know more by the end of next week.”