SASKATOON – Dozens of fire fighters took on a raging warehouse fire in the Sutherland Industrial neighbourhood overnight Friday.
The first crews to arrive at the blaze that started just after 4 p.m. found flames shooting out of the building and a second alarm was sounded. Smoke could be seen billowing into the sky from several miles away.
Every apparatus in the city had to be used at some point during the night.
“We couldn’t go into the building because of the amount of fire. They called a defensive attack right away–a defensive attack means we fight it from the outside,” explained Battalion Chief Marc DeGirolamo with the Saskatoon Fire Department.
Firefighters continued to shoot water into the building in an attempt to douse the hot spots and gain control of the situation.
“We were concerned about it falling down, because steel buildings have a tendency to lose their integrity and collapse,” DeGirolamo explained.
“It was a building owned by Canadian Tire and it was where they stored all their goods.”
Global News made several attempts to contact officials with Canadian Tire but no one was available for comment. The fire department said the damage estimate is expected to be very significant due to the amount of merchandise that was stored inside the building.
Neighboring businesses were evacuated Friday night, including the Playful Paws Pet Center next door.
“We had over 150 pets that needed to be evacuated last night…mainly dogs; we had 11 cats,” said the centrers General Manager Rebbeca Doherty.
“We actually contacted the Hound Lounge down the street and they were able to provide temporary housing for the dogs,” she explained.
The University of Saskatchewan Vet Clinic and Central Animal Hospital also helped to house the pets overnight.
The animals were able to come back into the pet center at 10:30 a.m. Saturday after the fire department deemed it safe.
Comments