Fergus and Elora emergency crews responded to a possible structure fire at Nexans Canada Ltd. here on Nov. 24 after a power flash caused a machine at the plant to malfunction.
Public safety officer and district chief Tom Mulvey was one of those who responded to the incident. He said crews moved quickly and major damage was prevented.
“When the power flashed it interrupted a machine which caused it to malfunction and start a fire at the top of it. That machine was hooked up to a dust collector and so the dust collector was actually on fire inside, so there was some concern that the fire had spread to the roof,” Mulvey explained.
“We had crews attend the roof and inside the dust collector but there was no extension to the roof and we were able to put the fire out with a small water extinguisher.”
Strong winds on Nov. 24 at times reached 100km/h and caused extensive damage and power outages across the region as a result of downed trees and power lines.
Employees at Nexans were put on alert after the fire, but an evacuation was not necessary.
“They will have to replace that filtration system, but I don’t think it’s going to hamper production in any way,” said Mulvey. “They continued to operate that night.”
Engineers estimated the unit involved was worth approximately $4,000, with damages cited as less than $5,000, said Mulvey.
