Bay de Verde fire: Mayor, plant workers ponder town's future in fire's aftermath

Wanda Riggs and hundreds of fish plant workers in Bay de Verde woke up Monday to a phone call nobody wants to get.

• Bay de Verde fish plant on fire, prompting evacuation

"It's absolute devastation," said Riggs. "I got a phone call this morning at 6:30 and when I got out of bed and  came downstairs, all I could see was black smoke coming from down in the plant."

"My first thought was, 'Oh my god, what's gonna happen?'"

Bay de Verde fish plant fire

9 years ago

Duration 2:07

Hundreds of people out of work as the small Newfoundland town is grappling with the sudden loss of its economic engine

The Quinlan Brothers fish plant, one of the largest in the province, was burning in a fire that had forced an evacuation of part of the community.

Riggs is worried about her own future, and about what will happen to the town itself.

She has worked at the Quinlan Brothers plant in Bay de Verde for over 30 years, starting when she was in high school. Her husband also works there.

Prior to Monday's fire, the plant employed more than 700 people during peak season — people from all over the province.

More than 40 workers from Thailand are also employed there.

"We're just standing here in our window watching the smoke and the flames burst up," said Riggs.

"Everybody is just wondering and worrying about the fire department who's down there fighting the flames, and for the company itself, and for everybody who worked there."

​Huge loss for the Avalon

Todd Broderick was working late at the plant Sunday evening.

At 12:30 a.m. he packed up his things and went home to bed. 

When he woke up Monday, the fire was already raging. 

"I couldn't believe it. I left and went up and had to look at it to see for myself," he said.

"I was hoping it was just a little small fire and by the time I got up there would be nothing to it, but the end result… it's all gone up there now."

Broderick has worked at the plant for the last 10 years. His father also worked at Quinlan Brothers for 35 years. 

"Everyone had a dealing to do with Quinlans," he said. "Everyone had to work through them at some point in their life."

 The loss of the plant will affect everybody in town, he said, whether they are employed by the plant or not. 

"It's gonna be the biggest loss on the Avalon," he said.

He said the loss will hit especially hard for his co-workers, many of them who have been working at the plant for close to 40 years.

"They're not going to know what to do when they wake up tomorrow morning," said Broderick.

"They've got nowhere to go for work."

Broderick said he has some work scheduled at Quinlan Brothers Old Perlican plant, but he doesn't know how long that will last.

It also remains to be seen whether or not Old Perlican will have room for any displaced Bay de Verde workers, he said. 

Mayor says future 'uncertain'

Bay de Verde Mayor Gerard Murphy said the town will discuss how to move forward in the coming days.

"We have 700 people displaced," he said. 

While 40-60 plant workers are from Bay de Verde, Murphy said others are from all over Newfoundland. Some are from the mainland, and as far away as Thailand.

While he's yet to speak with Quinlan Brothers directly, Murphy said the initial repercussions are clear,

"Obviously there will be no snow crab or cold water shrimp processed here in Bay de Verde for this year." 

For people living in and around Bay de Verde, the situation is surreal. 

"I've spoken to a lot of people today and I've seen a lot of people in tears," said Murphy.

"Their livelihood has disappeared in a matter of hours."

Murphy said once the immediate problem of putting out the fire has been solved, the town will have to look ahead.

"In the long term we will really have to have a conversation around the whole piece of where are we now as a community, and what the future will have in store for us," he said.

"Because it was the economic engine not only of this community but of this region."