The Drumheller Fire Department is still investigating the cause of a fire Friday afternoon that razed the Active Glass building on Railway Avenue.
Smoke began billowing from one of the bays shortly after 3:30 p.m., on Friday, April 28. The Fire Department quickly responded.
The fire spread within the building, and the firefighters deployed its ladder truck to fight the fire from above. EMS was also on scene, as well as RCMP and utility companies.
Firefighters made progress when it brought in heavy equipment to tear down a portion of the west wall of the structure to attack the fire.
Fire Chief Derian Rosario explained one of the most challenging parts of fighting this fire was the roof of the old building.
“It has multiple roofs on it. From the original construction, it has a flat roof, and it had multiple layers of tar and shingles on it. Somewhere in its history, someone put a peaked tin roof over it. So once it burned through the first roof from the inside, it was very difficult to get into. That is why we brought in the heavy equipment,” Rosario said.
The Department was able to have the fire extinguished shortly after 9 p.m. Friday, but did return around midnight for a small flare-up.
Rosario says it appears the fire broke out in a chemical storage area near the office, and while the building was destroyed, they managed to hold the fire to the office end of the building. The owner may be able to salvage some of the items from the north end of the building.
It was a busy day for the departments, which responded to six calls last Friday.
“At the time we were there, we were also at a large brush fire in Kneehill County assisting. That fire ended up being nine hectares,” said Rosario. “We ended up taking a lot of resources from there back into town to fight this fire.”
The Department used an East Coulee engine at the Active Glass fire to supply water, and a Rosedale engine was dispatched to the Town of Drumheller and put into reserve, as Drumheller's number one engine and a tender were at the Kneehill fire.
“I had nearly all of our equipment committed,” said Rosario. “ If we didn't have three halls, I would have been calling in mutual aid.”
He said firefighters called in a forestry helicopter at one point with a six-man hack crew to help get the Kneehil fire under control. The Carbon Fire Department responded with aid from Drumheller, Kneehill County and Three Hills.
Active Glass has been in that location since the early 1990s, Sheri Cooper now operates the business and has been there for almost 18 years. It was an emotional day. She is grateful for the quick response from the fire department, and the community for their support.
“There has been a tremendous amount of support and nothing but kind words,” said Cooper.
She says the fire will not close the business. She is looking at ways to get back up and running with a temporary space and maybe providing mobile service. She is also working with her suppliers to replace orders and inventory.
“The big thing is nobody got hurt. Things can be replaced, people cannot. We are blessed to have the EMS, fire and police service we have,” she said. “Everyone is standing together and being as helpful as they can.”
Currently, Drumheller is under a fire advisory. Kneehill County upgraded its fire advisory to a fire ban on Monday, May 1, and Wheatland County implemented a fire advisory on Tuesday, May 2; there are no current bans or advisories in Starland County.
