Damage contained to one building
“The crews did a great job locating the fire and a quick initial knock-down. We thought we had the fire knocked out early on, but it flared back up in the crawl space.” Brett Tetanish Brooklyn’s fire chief
A factory fire in Three Mile Plains could have been a lot worse.
Brett Tetanish, Brooklyn’s fire chief, commended firefighters for their quick response in extinguishing a blaze inside what is known as Mason Apples’ main building on Tuesday.
“The most challenging part was just to even locate the fire,” Tetanish said of the sprawling warehouse.
“With a structure this size, and smoke rolling out everywhere, when you first get here it’s hard to pinpoint where to even start to look.”
The Brooklyn Fire Department was paged out to a working structure fire in the 800 block of the Windsor Back Road shortly before 7:40 a.m.
There are multiple warehouse buildings, many connected by pedways, located on site. He said there was a cider operation in the main building.
Tetanish said there was no one in the building at the time of the fire.
“The crews did a great job locating the fire and a quick initial knock-down. We thought we had the fire knocked out early on, but it flared back up in the crawl space.”
Around 9 a.m., firefighters were positioned on top of the roof, ready to cut holes, if required.
Due to the type of structure and the potential for the fire to spread, Brooklyn requested mutual aid and also issued a third alarm, which would bring tankers to the site.
Although the area is connected to a hydrant supply, Tetanish said it was important to ensure there was adequate water available should the fire get worse.
“In the event that this were to take off and involve other structures, the hydrant system may not be able to keep up, so we made sure we had lots of water and personnel and we’re thankful that we didn’t need to use it,” said Tetanish.
He estimated there were between 60 and 80 firefighters on scene. Volunteers from multiple fire departments, spanning several counties, either attended the fire or provided standby coverage.
Among the stations sending crews were: Windsor, Hantsport, Southwest Hants, Summerville, Mount Uniacke, Halifax County (Station 11), Wolfville, Greenwich, New Minas, Port Williams, and Kentville. Standby coverage was provided by Gore, Rawdon, Waterville, and Chester.
Other agencies on site included Emergency Health Services, RCMP, Nova Scotia Power, West Hants Public Works and the Nova Scotia Department of Public Works.
“I would like to thank our mutual aid departments for their quick and efficient response here today and the teamwork that everyone’s displayed to bring this incident under control,” said Tetanish.
It is unknown at this time the extent of the damage sustained to the main building or the cause.