SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. - Summerside firefighters descended on the Water Street facility of Amalgamated Dairies Limited (ADL) in Summerside on Thursday.
They were responding to a call of smoke in the building, which houses the company’s head office and dairy processing plant.
The alarm was sounded shortly after noon, just as most of the staff was leaving for lunch. Some reported a faint smell of smoke before they left the building, but most chalked it up to the ongoing renovation of the building. The company is currently in the process of a significant expansion project and sections of the facility are still under construction.
Summerside Fire Chief Jim Peters said when firefighters arrived they had trouble zeroing in on the source of the smoke.
The nature of the renovation project probably contributed to that delay, he said.
“Some of the building is going up new, some of it is coming out … and we’re right in the middle of it all, so it makes for quite a maze,” said Peters.
Firefighters eventually found the source of the smoke between layers of the roof on the west side of the building. They used their ladder truck to get access to the roof and then used a chainsaw and axes to get to the fire directly.
Peters said the fire itself was relatively small, only damaging a section about four square feet in size.
Once the fire was found it was quickly extinguished.
ADL employees went back to work once they were given an all-clear to go back in the building.
Peters said it was unclear what the source of ignition was.
