Industrial Fire Rips Through Ancaster Warehouse

Firefighters spent the whole of Tuesday battling flames from a three-alarm blaze at an industrial park just west of Ancaster.

Crews were at the facility on Osprey Drive from 3am, bringing roughly 60 firefighters and 18 trucks to the area near Hamilton.

“We’ve still got a lot of burning that’s down underneath the collapsed portion,” John Verbeek, Hamilton Fire, explained around the noon hour.

“Eventually what will have to happen is that we’ll have to bring in some heavy equipment and start removing some of the walls and start removing some of the debris that’s inside in order for us to be able to extinguish it completely.”

It wasn’t smooth sailing. The company, Archmill House Inc., manufactures office furniture and houses aerosol containers along with other highly flammable material.

Firefighters had to stop their efforts when the containers began to explode and residents were warned to keep their windows closed over concerns the smoke may have been toxic.

Environment Ministry officials tested air quality in the vicinity of the blaze, and fortunately results showed that the air was not toxic. A spokesperson for the ministry said that people should still keep their windows and doors closed though, thus eliminating cause for concern.

Meanwhile, power to the area was shut off as crews beat back the fire.

Fortunately no one was inside the building at the time and there are no reports of injuries. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t cause for alarm.

“At about ten after six, a quarter after six, it seemed like the whole back end went down,” related witness Ian Charszewski.

“It was just a big, loud noise, something crunching and then a big ball of flame came up.”

It’s not yet known what sparked the blaze, but the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office was called in.

Several roads in the area were closed due to poor visibility. Book Road, Airport Road, and Upper James Street were shut down, as well as the Highway 403 ramp to the southbound Highway 6.