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.

含羞草研究社淭he fire department was notified immediately and thankfully 含羞草研究社� and most importantly 含羞草研究社� no employees were harmed,含羞草研究社� Macgregor said.

Martin Drakeley, the municipality含羞草研究社檚 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 含羞草研究社� the last hour or so was spent retrieving employees含羞草研究社� personal effects.

含羞草研究社淲e couldn含羞草研究社檛 allow any of the workers in the building due to the smoke concerns because it was quite toxic,含羞草研究社� Drakeley explained. 含羞草研究社淪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.含羞草研究社�

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

含羞草研究社淚 believe it was a drying room,含羞草研究社� he said. 含羞草研究社淥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.含羞草研究社�

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Toxicity concerns didn含羞草研究社檛 emerge until the firefighters started coming out of the building covered in a foreign material.

含羞草研究社淭hey were coated in a black soot, which is unusual, especially the darkness of it,含羞草研究社� Drakeley said. 含羞草研究社淭hey have a protective barrier on the wall when they are doing the drying and it doesn含羞草研究社檛 allow the moisture, I believe, to get behind it and when it burns obviously it wasn含羞草研究社檛 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.含羞草研究社�

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含羞草研究社檛 know how the fire started or when employees would be back to work.

含羞草研究社淗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,含羞草研究社� Macgregor said.

sarah.simpson@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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