Firefighters used every tool at their disposal Tuesday night as they struggled to douse a nasty bark pile fire at the AbitibiBowater mill.
A Ministry of Natural Resources water bomber made repeated passes through a thick cloud of smoke, that high southwest winds blew throughout most of the south side of the city, dumping fire suppressant material on the blaze.
“There is a fire in the bark pile here at the mill. We have fire suppression activities going on and they include hose line, hand line operations and water bombing by ministry water bombers,” said Thunder Bay Fire and Rescue Service director of fire prevention Brian Berringer.
He was unable to give a definite cause for the blaze, which cause slowdowns of traffic on Highway 61 as curious onlookers stopped to get a better look.
But he was willing to speculate.
“In all likelihood it was spontaneous combustion,” Berringer said, a bomber drowning out his voice when reached by phone.
“The heat caused by the breakdown of the wood fibres in the pile get so warm that they actually start to burst (into flame).”
Unlike the pumpers, which poured water onto the blaze, the aerial bomber was dumping a special chemical in an attempt to smother the flames.
“It’s a fire suppressant but it coats the surface,” Berringer said.
Firefighters also battled the blaze from the ground, pockets of flame dying then flaring up between bomber runs.
The bark is a byproduct of the pulp and paper process he added, and it’s not uncommon for it to spontaneously combust, Berringer said.
Fire officials said the department received dozens of calls from concerned residents, worried about heavy smoke in their neighbourhoods. Berringer said firefighters were manning a stretch of hydrants along Neebing Avenue, taking precaution to ensure the fire didn’t spread.
Dozens of spectators, parked their cars across the street from the fire, camcorders, cell phones and digital cameras in hand, marching into smoke infested zones that at times provided zero visibility.
Among those who stayed further back on Neebing Avenue was Gore Street resident Brad Chicoine, who joined two buddies to watch the incident unfold.
“There’s lots of smoke, lots of people. The water bombers have been coming for the last 20 minutes or half an hour,” Chicoine said.
Told the fire could go throughout the night, he said he wasn’t surprised, commenting on how much smoke was being emitted.
“It gets pretty thick over by the house there,” he said, coughing. “At some point it starts to burn your eyes. The wind’s been moving around quite a bit though, so you get a bit of a break.”
His quiet part of town looked like a bustling metropolis at that point in time, just before 8 p.m.
“I’ve never seen our street so busy before,” he said.
No one appeared to be hurt in the fire, and police quickly cleared the danger zone and set up road blocks, denying access to all but emergency personnel.
Berringer said he expects firefighters to battle the fire throughout the night, with no clear indication of when it will be completely extinguished.
