CARROT RIVER — The main storage shed of the Carrot River Co-op was destroyed by fire.
At 8:18 p.m. on Sept. 12, Carrot River Fire and Rescue responded to the Carrot River Co-op for a structure fire. A total of 22 members responded to the scene and quickly gained control of the fire.
“Upon arriving on scene, there was smoke and flames showing,” said Bryce Lytle, chief of the department. “Then once we got a hold of it, it just became a situation of finding any fire extension, where it had gone through the building, as well as keeping the scene safe.”
Derek Mitchell, captain of the Bienfait Fire Department, happened to be in the area while visiting family. Mitchell provided assistance to the Carrot River Fire and Rescue by changing SCBA bottles for members coming out of the building.
There were no injuries as a result of the fire.
“Nobody was inside the building at the time, everyone had gone home.”
Ward Kewley, general manager of the Carrot River Co-op, said they had went to the Pineland Co-op to get access to feed products to sell for the time being.
“We definitely picked up some feedstuff, definitely just to tie us over,” Kewley said. “We didn’t know at the time of the fire what we wouldn’t have access to. We know we couldn’t go in the building because the fire department and police have taped it off.”
He said they are currently working on developing short-term alternative storage to replenish inventories, but they will rebuild the storage unit long term.
“There will be some issues with not having certain inventories,” Kewley said on Sept. 16. “We receive a hardware truck here every Wednesday so we know already we’re going to have some of those replacement inventories coming in as quickly as two days from now.
