Carnie's Comments

 

It's Throwback Thursday - we're looking back at a century of memories as we celebrate our 100th anniversary at 800 CHAB.

Let's go back to Saturday, August 8th, 1987.  I was on the early morning shift in the newsroom.  With the first local information package at 6:00 AM, I was on my way downtown around 4:00 AM.

As I approached the corner of 1st Avenue NW and River Street in downtown Moose Jaw, I saw the local police and firefighters were busy in and around the old Empress Hotel.

The constable I talked to said he thought it was under control and I could follow up with the staff sergeant later.

I wrote a short piece as our top story for the 6:00 AM news and prepared the rest of news, weather and sports.  All set for the show around 5:45 that morning, I stepped out the back door of the radio station to have a look down the street.  The fire was not under control.  The flames, the smoke had taken over downtown Moose Jaw.

Hundreds of locals watched the historic Empress Hotel burn up that day.  Some of us saw the firefighters removing bodies.  Three people died in that fire.

We delivered the story that made news across the country that day, a day I'll never forget.