The fire that broke out in the Cascades paper bales on Friday night was of accidental origin, likely electrical in origin, commissioned incident lieutenant Yanick Grenier of the Kingsey Falls Fire Service.
It was Cascades employees who noticed the outbreak of fire and raised the alarm shortly before 6:30 p.m. “The fire started in the rear near the medium-voltage line,” Lieutenant Grenier said.
He estimated that between 80 and 90 percent of the bundles were burned. Fortunately, the fire did not threaten any building.
Kingsey Falls firefighters had the support of at least nine fire services. Firefighters from Warwick, Danville, Val-des-Sources, Saint-Félix-de-Kingsey, Chesterville, Victoriaville, Princeville, L’Érable regional fire department and Notre-Dame-du-Conseil/Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton all came reach out. The fire mobilized up to 70 firefighters.
Agents from the SIUCQ MRC d’Arthabaska were also deployed to ensure the security perimeter and the rehabilitation of the firefighters.
Mechanical shovels and loaders are used to help firefighters extinguish the fire.
The official estimated Saturday morning that their work would continue for much of the day.