The cause of a fire at MBC Nursery Saturday evening remains undetermined.
“We know an area where it started, but there is no indication of what the exact cause is,” said Summerland Fire Chief Glen Noble.
George Pugh, assistant fire chief said they received a call at about 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 for a structure fire on Logie Road. When they’d arrived, they found a trailer on the MBC Nursery property fully ablaze.
Noble estimates a dozen firefighters responded, along with two engines. The fire was brought under control quickly.
‘It wasn’t that big a fire,” said Noble. “Within 20 minutes the fire was knocked down. We did a bit of mop-up and kept crews on the scene overnight.”
Ivan Haag, operator of MBC Nursery, said that though they lost some records, computers and control systems in the trailer, they only had to close Monday and are back in business growing seedlings for the Minisrry of Forests.
“We’re moving forward,”said Haag. “We were shut down Monday. We just told the crew we needed a business day to get organized.”
Noble said the fire didn’t start in the trailer itself, but spread into it, also damaging a car, a camper and some nursery supplies stored nearby.
“The bulk of the flame and activity was in their stored plastic that they use for the greenhouses,” said Noble. “The fire got going in that, and the fire spread to the car and the trailer.”
The fire didn’t spread into the greenhouses.
“There was no extension to any of the buildings. The trailer … sustained the brunt of the damage. It was a write off,” said Noble. The fire occurred after hours, so there was no one on site, and no firefighters were injured in containing it.
Corporal Chris Richardson of the Summerland RCMP said there is an ongoing investigation and they are working along with fire investigators to determine the cause and where it started.
