Heavy smoke as fire engulfs storage facility in Hespeler

Special effort made to keep firefighting water out of river

CAMBRIDGE — Thick black smoke billowed over Hespeler on Monday, as firefighters tackled a blaze at an empty storage facility for hours.

The fire began at 2 p.m. on Sheffield Street, near the corner of Clemens Avenue in what was the storage area of the old Crowe Foundry.

Cambridge firefighters arrived to smoke spilling from the building and worked into the evening to extinguish it.

Nearby streets were closed as around 20 firefighters surrounded the collapsing structure.

“We don’t believe anyone is in the building,” said Deputy Chief Damond Jamieson, adding that the building was still being used for storage and had some plastics in it.

The owner of the facility was vacationing in Florida when the

fire department contacted him on Monday, said Fire Chief Neil Main.

As the fire consumed the building, just a block away along Clemens Avenue, residents of the neighbourhood gathered along police tape to look on.

At about 4 p.m., Jannah and Dan Kitzman were standing on Clemens Avenue, just a block from their house with their three small children watching the fire.

“I came home from work and saw this and it was just black smoke,” said Jannah, who could smell the “toxic” fumes from inside her car as she was on her way home.

Mayor Doug Craig, who visited the site on Monday evening, said the Ministry of Environment was also on the scene.

“They’re testing the air quality in the Hespeler area because of some of the fumes that are spreading throughout the community,” he said.

“The fire department has shut off all the water going into the Speed River through the gullies and things like that, they’ve blocked it all to make sure nothing environmentally is affected.”

City of Cambridge crews were also working along Sheffield to contain the water run-off coming from the firefighters tackling the blaze.

“We are building a berm to hold the water that will be funneled to trucks to be treated,” said Main.

“We are making sure the water doesn’t get in the river,” he said. “We are containing the run-off.”

Main said the cause of the fire may be related to vandalism, but that it was too early to know for sure.

The Waterloo Region District School Board announced on Twitter that it had cancelled rentals at nearby schools as a result of the fire and would not release students unless they were being picked up in a vehicle.

MATHEW MCCARTHY PHOTOS, RECORD STAFF People watch as firefighters battle a blaze at Sheffield Street near Clemens Avenue in Hespeler on Monday afternoon.

MATHEW MCCARTHY, RECORD STAFF Thick smoke spews from a fire at an empty industrial building on Sheffield Street in Hespeler on Monday.

LAURA BOOTH, RECORD STAFF Firefighters battle a blaze at an industrial building on Sheffield Street in Hespeler. It’s believed no one was inside at the time.