Small blaze put under control at former water treatment plant

Smoke billowing Thursday from the side of Mount MacKay was a bin full of paper filters stored at the former Loch Lomond water treatment facility.

Thunder Bay Fire and Rescue quickly doused the small afternoon blaze upon arriving at the site, located on Fort William First Nation shortly after 3 p.m.

Capt. Bruce Bode said it was a relatively minor fire.

“When pumper seven arrived we encountered heavy black smoke coming from one of the tanks here … The crew advanced the line and basically just put the fire out,” Bode said. “It was a simple fire. Just some paper filters and quite easy to extinguish.”

No one was hurt in the incident, Bode concluded.

The site was decommissioned in 2008, once the Bare Point Water Treatment facility became operational. Crews were busy dismantling the Loch Lomond facility when the fire broke out.