Fire under investigation

Photo: Darren Handschuh

Officials with the Pinnacle Pellet Plant in Lavington are continuing to investigate a fire in one of the dryers Tuesday afternoon.

In a prepared statement, Pinnacle COO and president Leroy Reitsma said the fire occurred in the No. 1 dryer, but did not say if the plant is back in operation today.

“The plant was not in regular operation at the time of the event which occurred immediately following a day of maintenance procedures,” said Reitsma. “No one was hurt, and the fire was brought under control with the assistance of emergency response personnel.”

Reitsma said the fire is under investigation “with our focus being on accurately determining the cause.”

Coldstream Fire Chief Dave Sturgeon said two dozen firefighters from the Lavington and Coldstream departments responded.

Crews left the plant about 8 p.m. and handed the matter over to Pinnacle.

The fire was a challenging one.

“It felt like it was 1,000 degrees (in the dryer). It was at a point that even with the fire protection gear, you could feel the heat, so they had to back out,” said Sturgeon, adding the dryer is designed to keep heat in.

The structure was also full of smoke.

“Visibility was zero. You couldn't even see your hand in front of your face.”

Battling the blaze in the large dryer was also a challenge because of its design.

“Everything is separated into quadrants, so you had to breach each quadrant to get in,” he said.

Sturgeon said “it looked like there was significant damage to one side of the dryer,” but added he's not an expert on such structures and assessing damage to the metal building is not the same as assessing damage to a house.