On Thursday evening at approximately 1030PM, Kentville firefighters were alerted to a fire in Kentville.
Just prior to the call, Kentville firefighters were already dispatched to another alarm within their fire district.
Initial reports indicated heavy smoke and flames were visible from Highway 101 near the Kentville Industrial Park and it was believed to be a structure on fire at the Valley Waste-Resource Management property.
Automatic mutual aid protocols were activated bringing in New Minas, Waterville & Port Williams fire departments to the scene.
Additional calls for heavy smoke and flames were further reported from Highway 101 by motorists prior to the fire department arriving.
Upon arrival, it was determined that a large metal scrap yard was heavily involved and there were no structures on fire.
Deputy fire chief, Ian Fairclough with the Kentville Fire Department was able to confirm that the fire was roughly 100×200 in size.
The scrap metal yard contained combustible materials such as coolers, fridges, etc. which was fuelling the fire.
There were no structures impacted, but due to the volume of fire, mutual aid assistance continued to respond to help with suppression efforts.
Thankfully, hydrants on site were able to provide a direct water supply to flow a high volume of water to deck guns and aerial devices to contain the blaze.
Crews worked to mitigate the fire from spreading to nearby structures, while a heavy machine later pulled the pile apart to ensure the fire was extinguished.
This has been the third fire at the Valley Waste-Resource Management property between August and September this year.
Firefighters were called to the property twice in August – both for trailers that were full of garbage that caught fire.
In both scenarios the trailer was being loaded and was inside a commercial building.
Thankfully there were no injures from both incidents and the trailers were removed from inside the building before spreading further.
The cause of the fire from Thursday evening is under investigation and is being treated as undetermined at this time.
EHS Paramedics along with Kentville Police Service also assisted.
There were no reported injuries as a result of the fire.
The Greenwich Fire Department also provided standby coverage at the Kentville Fire station during the incident.
Great work by all firefighters on site who dealt with a significant fire load and were able to quickly get under control.
Adrian J.
