A major food processing plant has been completely destroyed by a massive fire after it went up in flames over the weekend, according to reports.
The W.E. Acres Crabmeal Ltd. plant in the Canadian province of New Brunswick caught fire on Friday.
The factory produces seafood, fertilizer, and animal feed, and the company is a major distributor in Canada, the United States, and globally.
The company’s owner Jim LeBlanc said the structure was a “total loss,” according to the Canadian Television Network.
LeBlanc told CTV News that the fire erupted at about 2 pm was started by an explosion in an oil drum.
Firefighters battled the blaze into Saturday but were unable to save the building.
Fire rips through seafood plant near Cap-Pelé https://t.co/so5PfT8vSr pic.twitter.com/A6EEdQsqIo
— Telegraph-Journal (@TJProvincial) February 4, 2023
However, Ronald Cormier, fire chief of the village of Cap-Pelé, said the cause of the fire is still unknown, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Yet fire officials insist that it did not appear to have been arson.
Although Cormier was quoted as saying no one was in the building when the fire started and no one was injured, LeBlanc said four people were inside.
He revealed that he and one worker suffered minor injuries.
“Myself and one of my co-workers were injured, like burnt… first and second-degree burns. We’ll heal,” he told CTV.
LeBlanc told CTV his co-worker who was injured went to the hospital for treatment of second-degree burns.
A seafood processing plant in Portage, N.B., has been completely destroyed following a major fire Friday afternoon. https://t.co/3fqehs3nue
— CTV Atlantic (@CTVAtlantic) February 4, 2023
Cormier told the CBC that six fire departments spent hours fighting the blaze.
According to the CBC, the fire was the fourth fish plant fire in the region.
Two fires took place in 2021 and one in 2019.
After the second of the 2021 fires, which took place on two successive weekends, Louise Landry, mayor of the village of Beaubassin-est, said the incidents were unusual, according to CBC.
“We’re quite concerned,” she said at the time.
https://twitter.com/Victor_Liu_57/status/1621781569290510336
“The authorities will have to do the inquiries and we don’t want to jump to any conclusions,” Landry said.
“It’s also a loss of businesses, of jobs as well.
“And of course, all the residents that had to be evacuated today, [it] was quite scary for them also.”
READ MORE: America’s Third-Largest Egg Farm Destroyed by Massive Fire, 100,000 Chickens Killed
