STELLARTON - For the second time in as many years, a recycling depot is the scene of a major fire in Stellarton.
The building on South Foord, which housed Scotia Recycling, burned to the ground early Sunday morning and kept emergency officials occupied until mid-day Sunday.
What remains of the address are piles of soggy, unrecycled material and sections of the building's metal frame, which appears to have been bent by the heat of the blaze.
When firefighters received the call to attend, they were told they would be heading to a 'fully-involved' structure fire. Stellarton's deputy fire chief, Mike O'Sullivan, said he could see flames rising 30 feet from the building.
"We had some explosions too, on arrival, because there were propane tanks and acetylene equipment that exploded," he said.
Given the location of the fire and the nature of the materials firefighters were dealing with, O'Sullivan said their primary concern was keeping watch on the surrounding areas.
"The lumber yard was our main concern," he said, referring to Proudfoot's, which is adjacent to the recycling depot.
"But fortunately the wind was blowing away from that location - it was blowing from the south to the north."
Stellarton's fire department remained on standby throughout the day Sunday. O'Sullivan said a call had been placed to the province's deputy fire marshal and an investigation is pending. He said it's too early yet to tell what might have caused the fire.
Jimmy Stewart, who lives on River Street, just across the train tracks from the depot, was awakened by the inferno.
"It was about (2:40 a.m.), by then it was out of control. The heat was unbelievable," he said.
At one point, he said firefighters took the precautionary step of dousing the side of his home and others in the vicinity with water.
Stewart voiced his frustration in an earlier article in this newspaper over the bits of debris and recyclable materials from the depot blowing throughout the neighbourhood. Looking over the smouldering remains of the building yesterday, he said he believes the recycling operation should have been in a rural area to begin with.
"The one thing I will say is that I am forever grateful that I won't have to be picking up any more garbage."
Scotia Recycling's previous location, on Beaufort Avenue in the town's industrial park, was destroyed by fire on Oct. 22, 2007, about one month after it began accepting materials.
The company moved into its new location on South Foord Street about one year after the first fire. In recent months, citizens who live nearby - as well as Stellarton's elected officials - expressed concern that the downtown address of the building is a poor location for such an operation and that materials waiting to be recycled were becoming an eyesore.
Last month, Stellarton's council was prepared to file an unsightly premises order in an attempt to have the area cleaned up but did not put it to a vote.
The town's mayor, Joe Gennoe, said yesterday council was hoping to come to some sort of resolution on the issue.
"We wanted it resolved, but we sure didn't want it resolved this way - you can't solve anything with a fire. It's terrible for people in the area."
The depot employs roughly 25 people. Company officials with Scotia Recycling were contacted yesterday, but did not return calls.
Strike two
Strike two
- Published on May 4, 2009
- Published on December 31, 2009
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Sean Kelly
Scotia Recycling depot burns to the ground
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Comments
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- county resident
- - January 18, 2010 at 14:29:24
This is in response to what Jimmy Stewart had to say: Stewart voiced his frustration in an earlier article in this newspaper over the bits of debris and recyclable materials from the depot blowing throughout the neighbourhood. Looking over the smouldering remains of the building yesterday, he said he believes the recycling operation should have been in a rural area to begin with. br br What i would like to know is, if it's not good enough for a company like this to be inside town limits, then why should those of us who live in the county have to put up with it? Most of that stuff comes from town residents, so keep it in town. Us out in the county have to put up with dumps, and compost sites, why should we have to put up with that stuff too? Our water mostly comes from wells br and the runoff from the garbage and compost can easily contaminate our drinking water. If the town people don't want it in their back yard, neither do we. We live here for the beauty not for your garbage. In fact here's a good idea, why doesn't each town and section of the county, have their own recycle depots, compost sites, and dumps. Then we would know for sure, who creates the most garbage per square foot. Then also there would be nothing to complain about, when it's blowing around in an area, as it would be that area's garbage to begin with!!
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- ExScotiaWorker
- - January 18, 2010 at 14:26:01
Ya 3 bales high is fine when all the bails are stacked right the ones on top or in the middle arent broke with bailing wire sticking out all over the place. And I agree i know of at least 2 good skidster drivers in there. However there were a lot in there that werent very good. Slamming into the metal supports for the building, one hit a car in the parking lot and hell one took out the big bay door, oh and my personal fave doing donuts in the lil bob cat in the middle of the production floor and Im pretty sure not everyone had their operators lic.
I left for safety concerns as Im sure you can tell. I know it wasn't a pillow factory. The workers worked there butt off up on that line and at the compactor, its just too bad the company didn't care about the well being of said workers. -
- marie
- - January 18, 2010 at 13:53:33
ex scotia worker from wasteville] it was a recycleing depot. of course there is paper and plastic in there. with neighbour's complaining about paper blowing around. i hope it was not set on fire .so i hope there is a full inquire.
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- ex employee
- - January 18, 2010 at 13:24:51
the employees were told time and time again too put needles aside in a bucket,and taken too the office.Piling the bails 3 high was not a hazard.Also the skidster drivers did a pretty good job keeping the floors as clear as poossible.
not every one was smoking during cleanup. This was not a pillow factory.
i wonder why you are ex- employee, maby too lazy too clean up outside -
- Another
- - January 18, 2010 at 13:14:40
As for the needles the workers may have been told to pick up the needles and put them in pop bottles but Im pretty sure thats not proper biohazard procedure. First off workers cannot always see the needles as they are mixed with paper and tons of other junk including gravel. Then the workers are only working with neoprene gloves or leather work gloves , neither of which will stop a needles stick (which did happen there).
The workers should not have to stick their hands in to that stuff, it should be sent down the line and disposed of properly. -
- ExScotiaWorker
- - January 18, 2010 at 12:55:43
I posted this on the last artical and i feel the need to post it again.
This place was a death trap. Piles of card board , paper and plastic from wall to wall, stacked 3 to 5 bales high around the entire place. The air was extreamly dry and dusty. Not to mention i know of workers getting stuck with dirty needles that come down the line and company could care less that those incidents happened as they would send the unsorted stuff with the needles in it back up the line.
We would compare the place to those firelogs you can buy at walmart and so forth. It was nothing more then a gaint tinder box with forklifts with hot exhuasts driving around all day long.
As with any company it was about making money not about saftey.
All one has to know to realize this was that the stellarton location was supose to be just a temp spot due to the last fire, but it was cheap considering there was not even any heat in the buliding so the company kept using it .
I feel for the workers that have been put out and thank god that this fire happened when the building was empty and not during full production.
Maybe now Scotia Recycling will do things the right way instead of just cutting corners.
I too however am curious as to the cause of the fire.
In reply to the comment on the other artical by Rose when i worked there cleaning up the grounds was not even part of our 12 hr shifts. It was more like 1 hr every week to clean the grounds outside and for the most part people took it as just another smoke break and did nothing. For you to say if the towns people didn't like it they should have came and helped clean it up. THATS PART OF YOUR JOB not the publics.. yeesh.
