Canada: Fire destroys potato plant, injures worker
Damage from a fire that ripped through a potato storage facility in southern Alberta and injured one worker Wednesday could reach up to $3 million, according to the Coaldale fire chief.
RCMP officers and fire crews were called to the property owned by Houweling Farms Ltd. northeast of Coaldale about 12:25 p.m. after reports of an explosion. Coaldale fire chief Andy Van Rijn said a worker was applying chemicals used to prevent the potatoes from sprouting while in storage when suddenly he noticed his hose was on fire.
The worker, a man in his 50s, managed to drive his truck and trailer away from the fire, but sustained burns to his body and inhalation burns, Van Rijn said. He was taken to Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge.
The flames quickly spread through six connected Quonset huts on the property, due to spray-on flammable insulation on all units and the alleyway, Van Rijn said in an e-mail.
The flames destroyed the potatoes, a large farm tractor, truck, two RVs, a one-tonne truck, equipment and also set an electrical transformer pole ablaze, he said. Only a stand-alone barn containing some farm machinery was saved.
No one else was at the facility at the time.
Brookes Merritt, spokesman with Alberta Occupational Health and Safety, said the man was self-employed and hired to apply the chemical treatment by farmers who keep their potatoes at the facility.
Source: calgaryherald.com