Residents of Lake Country thanked firefighters for their quick response to a blaze on a property on Pelmewash Parkway, Monday morning.
The fire, at the old Oyama sausage factory, was first reported shortly before 10 a.m. June 1.
“I heard an explosion,” said 11-year-old neighbour Vaughn Kilpatrick. “The shed caught on fire after the explosion.”
According to Kilpatrick, a man was burning some leaves and weeds on the property, off Pelmewash Parkway, when the flames spread to an attached shed.
Lake Country Fire Chief Steve Windsor suspects some of the dry grass being burned got up into the soffits and into the attic, where the fire spread.
“He had garden hoses there but it took off pretty quick for him,” said Windsor, adding that two nearby homes were saved. “When we were coming in from Winfield I could see that column of black smoke.”
While the building is still structurally sound, some repairs to the roof are needed and the damage is estimated to be around $200,000.
No one was injured in the fire and a number of vehicles and machines stored in and around an attached shed were saved from damage.
The Oyama Sausage Company was founded by John and Christine van der Lieck more than 30 years ago at the Oyama location. The business relocated to the Granville Island Public Market in 2001.
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