A fire that ripped through Estevan Plastic Products' shop located on the east edge of Bienfait, pretty well destroyed the entire 50 x 100 foot red iron building on the evening of Thursday Nov. 25.
Members of the Bienfait volunteer fire department, bolstered by a team from Estevan Fire Rescue, battled the fire for over three hours.
A nearby office also belonging to Estevan Plastic was saved, but the main structure is gone, said the company owner Vernon "Butch" McLean.
Bienfait deputy fire Chief Richard Smyth said he was at work near Estevan when the original call came in around 6 p.m. and the fire was apparently fully engaged when the four or five Bienfait firefighters arrived on the scene with one fire truck.
Estevan deputy fire Chief Dale Feser said the call for assistance was recorded at 6:15 and the local department dispatched eight firefighters and two units, the rural response vehicle and a water tanker.
"It was a fully involved fire by the time our guys got there," said Fesar.
The unified command protocoal meant that the Estevan team accepted directions from the Bienfait unit as they fought the fire together.
"It came from the building's interior," said Smyth, "and I believe there was some type of product that might have been involved, but nothing confirmed yet, of course. The people who were in the building evacuated successfully."
The fire was well under control by 10 p.m., Smyth said.
McLean said the building was insured and the plan will probably include rebuilding.
"In the meantime we have about $300,000 in orders to complete, so I will probably be seeing if we can get back into our previous shop right in Bienfait," he said, referring to the company's downtown Bienfait location that they moved out of about five years ago with expansion and the newer building the outskirts that is now gone.
"Of course I'll have to get new equipment," McLean added.
Estevan Plastic Products manufacturers a variety of fibreglass and other related products such as pumpjack guards and oil tanks for the oil patch as well as other industrial items.
"Dave (Sernick) and I were the only ones in the shop. It was just about time to quit but we were working on a pump and using a halogen light for illumination. We had just filled an oiler and stroked the pump to see if it was repaired and oil spattered on the light and the fire was on. We weren't fibreglassing anything at the time, so that wasn't the source. We attempted to put the fire out, gave it an initial try with our own water hose, but it didn't seem to do any good. We had about 30 seconds to get out, so we did and made the call to the fire department," said McLean.
A video recording of the fire was captured by The Mercury and can be viewed on line at www.estevanmercury.ca
