Belfair fire deemed undetermined

Jan. 12--A fire at the Belfair of McAlester Memory Care facility in November is being called an undetermined fire by McAlester Fire Marshall Bobby Tucker.

"We weren't able to pinpoint one certain thing that started the fire," Tucker said. "Enough things couldn't be eliminated."

The fire occurred Nov. 18 at 101 S. West St. in McAlester. The building was under construction at the time and had not opened prior to the blaze. The building was unoccupied and no injuries were reported. A building permit for the Memory Care center states it covers 18,473 square feet.

The Belfair project is being built by the Oklahoma City-based Carland Group and includes an assisted living center in addition to the Memory Care facility. Carland Group co-owner Richard Miller said plans have not changed for the project; they've only been delayed.

"We are still working with the insurance company, finalizing the damages in order to move forward with the demolition (of the Memory Care facility) to rebuild," Miller said.

When completed, a two-story building with 30 traditional assisted living units will connect to a single-story building with 40

memory-care units, Miller previously told the News-Capital.

While not directly damaged by the fire, the timeline for the completion of the assisted living center is unclear.

"The assisted living portion we are nearing completion," Miller said. "Power was cut off (to the assisted living center) and then we had to isolate it to get it running again.

"It still has to go through several layers of inspections," Miller added. "We would be looking at a couple months regardless."

Contact David Dishman at ddishman@mcalesternews.com

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