Fire broke out at an industrial facility at the corner of Drinkwater Road and Highway 18 on Tuesday.

Thick smoke was seen billowing out of the Broken Coast Cannabis units of the multi-unit warehouse just before noon, confirmed Tamara Macgregor, a spokesperson for the company.

乌鸦传媒淭he fire department was notified immediately and thankfully 乌鸦传媒� and most importantly 乌鸦传媒� no employees were harmed,乌鸦传媒� Macgregor said.

Martin Drakeley, the municipality乌鸦传媒檚 manager of fire and bylaw services, said all told, five trucks and a crew of at least 24 firefighters spent roughly five hours at the site 乌鸦传媒� the last hour or so was spent retrieving employees乌鸦传媒� personal effects.

乌鸦传媒淲e couldn乌鸦传媒檛 allow any of the workers in the building due to the smoke concerns because it was quite toxic,乌鸦传媒� Drakeley explained. 乌鸦传媒淪o we had to have our firefighters go in and grab their personal belongings so that they could go home and that took the last hour, hour and a half.乌鸦传媒�

Drakeley said he was unsure as to the extent of the damage but did note it was extensive to one of the rooms.

乌鸦传媒淚 believe it was a drying room,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淥ther than that it was just a little bit of smoke damage to the hallway just adjacent to it on the exterior of that room.乌鸦传媒�

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Toxicity concerns didn乌鸦传媒檛 emerge until the firefighters started coming out of the building covered in a foreign material.

乌鸦传媒淭hey were coated in a black soot, which is unusual, especially the darkness of it,乌鸦传媒� Drakeley said. 乌鸦传媒淭hey have a protective barrier on the wall when they are doing the drying and it doesn乌鸦传媒檛 allow the moisture, I believe, to get behind it and when it burns obviously it wasn乌鸦传媒檛 hot enough to do complete combustion and there was a lot of unburnt products of combustion that were in the room so once we saw them coming out and they were dark with all the soot, we knew we had some kind of special product in there.乌鸦传媒�

The fire department is trying to obtain the identity of the product so they can follow up with WHMIS guidelines to clean their gear properly.

Macgregor didn乌鸦传媒檛 know how the fire started or when employees would be back to work.

乌鸦传媒淗ealth Canada has been advised and we will work closely with them on next steps, as well as with local authorities to determine the cause of the fire and assess damage once the building is deemed safe for re-entry,乌鸦传媒� Macgregor said.

sarah.simpson@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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