Cause of Upper Rawdon fire unknown
Firefighters were called upon to battle a tire fire in Upper Rawdon on Tuesday evening.
Around 6:20 p.m., firefighters were called to a salvage yard in the 4200 block of Highway 354. But it quickly became clear that more manpower and water was needed to tackle the scene. The blaze almost spread into the surrounding area.
James Robinson, deputy chief of the Rawdon Fire Department, said firefighters remained on scene until 2:30 a.m. The road was cleared to allow traffic around the same time.
They returned to the Rawdon Fire Hall at 8:30 a.m. yesterday to begin cleaning gear.
“When we landed on scene, we had a tire pile, probably close to 1,000 tires, 10 to 12 feet high, fully involved,” Robinson said. “There were lots of woods close by, so we put water on the fire, but also went into the woods and put the woods fires out that were around it so we could focus just on the tires.”
There were no injuries. The cause of the fire remains unknown, but an investigation is underway.
Robinson said an area of about five metres into the surrounding wooded area was in flames for a time as well. The Department of Natural Resources was also on scene.
“Had that spread too far into the woods, we would have been in big trouble,” he said. “There are acres of land nearby that’s just old chop and we’ve had quite a bit of dry weather.”
He said that approximately 15 departments were on scene – coming from Colchester, Hants and Halifax counties – with more than 100 firefighters at or around the scene during the evening fire call.
“We had to keep switching guys out because of the heat, and they can get dehydrated pretty quick,” Robinson said. “We were doing rotations every 15 minutes.”
An excavator was called in to help deal with the situation, but the operator was replaced with a firefighter, so they could use a breathing apparatus, Robinson said.