Two people were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation after trying to save equipment from a burning outbuilding Sunday in Pleasant View, the Miminegash fire chief says.

About 30 firefighters from the Miminegash and Tignish fire departments were called at 1:30 p.m. Sunday — arriving to find the 24-by-30 foot shed fully engulfed in flames — and spending five hours getting the blaze under control.

The two-storey shed had about 175 lobster traps on the lower floor and thousands of plastic bags and rope in the upper storey.

"Quite a few traps were down below, but up in the second storey there he had rope and a lot of those bags," said fire chief Wayne Gallant. "So whenever the fire got up into the second storey there was no putting it out with that much plastic and rope all burning,

The shed's owner and a young woman who is a family friend were taken to Western Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation but were later released, Gallant said. They had been trying to save traps and equipment from the shed's lower level before firefighters arrived.

"It was quite a loss, that's a lot of stuff," noted Gallant.

The fire was so hot it started to melt the siding on the owner's house and a neighbour's house on the other side, Gallant noted, adding it was lucky there was no wind Sunday.

The fire marshal attended the scene, Gallant said, but has not released a cause of the incident.