Crews extinguish overnight fire at Central Dairies in Mount Pearl

A St. John's regional fire department chief says a fire that broke out at a Central Dairies building in Mount Pearl late Monday night was extinguished with no damage to the main facility.

Platoon chief Derek Hunt says the fire was contained to a building that Central Dairies uses for storage.

"The fire did not get into the main building, so their production facility is still going to be in operation and the power is still on at the building," Hunt told CBC News on Tuesday morning.

"We're very fortunate that it did not get into the main building." 

Crews battled the fire for five hours, he added, and extinguished it completely.

The fire did not reach the production facility, he said, so the company should be able to resume operations soon.

Hunt said a call was received at 11:23 p.m. for the facility's location, 12 Bruce St. in Mount Pearl. Crews responded within five minutes, he said.

The first officer on the scene reported smoke, said Hunt, so it was upgraded to a commercial structure fire and more units responded.

About 24 people were on scene throughout the night, along with 10 pieces of equipment, he said.

Elements in the way

The heavy amount of snow left over from the weekend's snowstorm also made fighting the fire a challenge, said Hunt.

They had assistance from the City of Mount Pearl, which lent a front-end loader to move some snow that was impeding their efforts to fight the fire.

Hunt said heavy equipment brought in from private companies helped knock down some of the metal structure that was impeding fire control.

"Last night's weather wasn't that great," said Hunt. "Everyone was really soaked to the bone."

Hunt said there were no injuries.

The next step is for the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary investigation into determining the cause of the fire, he said.

CBC News has asked the RNC for comment but did not hear back by publication time.

Central Dairies is owned by Quebec-based Agropur Dairy Co-operative, which has more than a dozen brands under its umbrella.

In a statement to CBC News, spokesperson Guillaume Bérubé that no employees were injured because of the fire.

"We are currently working with the authorities following the fire. We are not in a position to comment further at this time," he wrote.

In a follow-up email, Bérubé said there's no production at the plant currently. "We remain in communication with local authorities and it's our goal to resume production as soon as possible," he said.

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