It’s unknown when an Armstrong business could resume production after a fire and explosion.
Pinnacle Pellet has ceased activities at its Pleasant Valley Road location so the impact of Saturday’s blaze on the equipment and building can be assessed.
“It looks like it could be at least a week,” said Jamie Collis, manager, when asked about reopening.
“We’ve had contractors in already to look at what it will take (for repairs).”
The plant, which manufactures wood pellets for a variety of uses, employs 20 people.
“Some of the guys are in doing clean-up and fire watch,” said Collis.
While much of the building is steel frame, the wood roof sustained significant damage. A torrent of water from firefighters’ hoses got into electrical systems.
Water flowed into the lower level, which contains a lot of equipment.
“Tens of thousands of gallons of water in the basement and the pumps ran all day Sunday,” said Gord Noble, a captain with the Armstrong-Spallumcheen Fire Department.
Firefighters responded to reports of an explosion at about 9:35 p.m. Saturday.
“It lifted lots of heavy crates,” said Alastair Crick, deputy fire chief.
Arriving on scene, crews found flames coming off the road and heavy smoke.
“We hit the fire with lines pretty quick,” said Noble.
“We felt that the roof was compromised so we didn’t believe it was safe to have anyone in the building.”
Firefighters from BX-Swan Lake and Enderby were brought in to provide assistance.
Determining the cause of the fire has been challenging.
“The roof structure above the mill is in bad shape so it’s unsafe to occupy the building,” said Noble.
“We need a crane to come in to get the roof off.”
Once that occurs, investigators will be able to get a better look at machinery to try and pinpoint the cause.
Two employees were in the plant at the time of the fire.
“No one was injured thank God,” said Collis.
