Vinyl Works fire

The fire at Vinyl Works Canada store in Port Colborne is now under control. However, dozens of firefighters remain on scene.

The flames began Tuesday morning and caused black smoke plumes that could be seen from kilometres away. It’s been a long, difficult and frigid day for firefighters battling the blaze at the Vinyl Works Canada building.

Explosions echoed throughout the store as scorching flames met with propane tanks. Firefighters arrived just after 7:30am to the plant on Barber Road and less than 10 minutes later it had partially collapsed and soon after, a total collapse.

No injures were reported, and it’s believed that all employees at the plant were evacuated safely.

Firefighters were called from across Niagara to help battle the blaze, and by 10:30am over 55 firefighters were on scene. Fire authorities say the building isn’t required to have working fire alarms because no one sleeps there. It was also noted there were no sprinkler systems inside of the facility.

“We had heavy fire involvement right from the beginning, there was no chance to make an interior attack. We went defensively almost immediately.” according to Deputy Fire Chief Mike Bendia.

A fight that would be made that much more difficult because of the freezing weather conditions.

The Deputy Chief went on to say, “The biggest problem for us is we use water. And ice makes very quickly in this weather. We have to be careful about the people on ice, and also once they’re exposed to the elements it can take a toll.”

Firefighters are expected to be on scene until Wednesday afternoon. At this point the cause of the blaze isn’t known, but the Ontario Fire Marshall will be investigating.