OPP DIVE TEAM HQ BUILDING IS COMING DOWN IN GRAVENHURST AFTER AUGUST 22 FIRE

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

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GRAVENHURST — A late August fire at its headquarters that forced the OPP’s Underwater Search and Rescue out of its provincial dispatch centre has led the demolition of the metal-clad garage facility attached at the back.

By early next week the final girders will be down on the building, which is about 10,000 square feet.

A crew from Just Excavating, of Huntsville, began ripping off the siding of the building last week after it was cleaned during the past three weeks with any possible salvaged by the dive team.

Engineers appear to have determined the steel integrity of the building wasn’t salvageable keep up.

The scorched brick building at the front wasn’t affected by the current demolition.

OFM officials have yet to release a cause of the fire Saturday Aug. 22.

And there is no word yet as to whether the USRU,

which continues to operate elsewhere, will return to the site.

See first two related stories:

FIRE AT OPP DIVE TEAM HQ SATURDAY PUTS TEMPORARTY HALT TO PROVINCIAL RECOVERY SERVICE OUT OF GRAVENHURST https://muskokatoday.com/2026/08/fire-at-opp-dive-team-hq-saturday-puts-temporarty-halt-to-provincial-recovery-service-out-of-gravenhurst/

OPP DIVE TEAM REMAINED IN SERVICE AFTER FIRE, POLICE SAY; BUT NO TALKS YET ABOUT LONG-TERM FUTURE OF GRAVENHURST AS LOCATION FOR ONTARIO USRU SITE AND ABOUT WHETHER TO ‘REPAIR, RENOVATE AND RE-OPEN’ https://muskokatoday.com/2026/08/opp-dive-team-remained-in-service-after-fire-police-say-but-no-talks-yet-about-long-term-future-of-gravenhurst-as-location-for-ontario-usru-site-and-about-whether-to-repair-renovate-and-re-open/

Cleanup and demoltion of the metal-clac garage area of the USRU building in Gravenhurst should be complete early next week following the fire. PHOTOS Mark Clairmont MuskokaTODAY.com
The cause of the Saturday Aug. 22 fire remains under investigation.
All that’s left of the empty 10,000 square foot building are steel girders.
Just Excavating, of Huntsville, has the contract to remove what’s left of the fire.

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