FIRE RAGES IN WALKERVILLE
Firefighters in an aerial ladder are surrounded by thick black smoke and raging flames while battling a warehouse blaze on Argyle Road in Windsor on Wednesday.
Roads were closed, homes and businesses were evacuated, and bright orange fireballs burst into the sky on Wednesday as crews battled a massive, stubborn blaze at an old industrial building in Walkerville.
Just before noon firefighters converged on the fire at 1370 Argyle Rd., a warehouse with offices formerly operated by a company called Gelcell Capsules.
The fire was visible from kilometres away, including the suburbs of Detroit. Maureen Sajtovich and her fiancé Chris Drouillard came to check out the fire after seeing the flames from Walker Road at Highway 3. They sat in the car and watched for hours as acrid clouds of smoke darkened the sky. “There were two firemen sitting down on the grass, on relief,” said Sajtovich. “Then they got up and said ‘we’re pulling out of here.’ They were clearing everybody out. They said: ‘The smoke is very chemical. We need to leave. We’re pulling out of here, it’s so bad.’ It was so thick. You could barely see the houses in the area.” Windsor Fire and Rescue Service said the building contained no toxic materials and the offices were unoccupied. The company has been described as a manufacturer of hard and soft capsules for pharmaceutical and health supplement purposes.
The fire forced the closure of Ottawa Street from Walker to Kildare Road. Residential streets were also closed west of the fire, where a smoky haze hung in the air, making it hard to breathe. Paramedics were at the ready and Windsor police blocked roads while dozens of firefighters battled the relentless flames. Crews attacked the fire from above using four aerial trucks. Later Wednesday evening, they brought it heavy equipment to help dismantle the building and extinguish the fire. Enwin crews were also dispatched to the area.
The smoke inside the building was so heavy that it eventually forced firefighters to pull out and attempt to deal with the blaze from the outside.
Residents in the area were asked to keep their windows closed and stay indoors. Motorists were asked to avoid the scene.
The fire appeared to wane in the early afternoon, but rekindled in intensity later.
“It was pretty heavy at that point,” said Drouillard. “It took them a couple hours to get it knocked down. We’ve been at different vantage points. It was pretty severe at times, then they got it knocked down, then it started back up.”
Firefighters continued into the night trying to put it out. As they doused the blaze with massive amounts of water, Enwin posted a Twitter message telling residents not to worry if their water at home was discoloured.
The utilities company said water coming from taps between Walker and Windermere Road, and Ontario and Seneca streets, might be discoloured or contain sediment. “Water is safe,” Enwin tweeted. “Let it run until clear.” Around 6 p.m., the police and fire departments evacuated the nearby Shoppers Drug Mart and Classic Bingo, and barricaded the parking lots.
Shortly after 7 p.m., they called for a voluntary evacuation of homes and businesses from Ottawa to Shepherd Street, and Argyle to Kildare, “due to changing fire conditions.” They set up a reception centre for evacuees at the Gino and Liz Marcus Community Complex on Drouillard Road. Before police ordered everyone away from the area, Sajtovich said she got a good look at how fierce the fire was.
“We went around the other side to Classic Bingo,” she said. “In the corner, before officers asked everybody to leave, there was just a shell of a building left. Then the fire was starting to come from the alley to the back of Classic Bingo. They started hosing down the top of the bingo hall. By the time we came around here, they started watering the back of Shoppers Drug Mart. It’s bad.”