Community devastated by fish plant fire: ‘There’s a lot of sad people here’
WHITBOURNE, N.L. — Firefighters were monitoring hotspots at a fish plant that burned to the ground late Thursday, dealing a major blow to the hundreds of people who work there.
Deputy fire Chief Corey Hudson said the plant in Norman’s Cove-Long-Cove burned quickly after the fire was noticed at about 9 p.m., due possibly to a transformer catching fire and spreading to the main building.
“It’s a total loss,” he said Friday from the small community on Trinity Bay in eastern Newfoundland. “It was fully enraged. There was no chance of saving the building.”
People in the area reported hearing an explosion before the fire started, but Hudson said the cause was still under investigation.