‘More than the loss of a building’: Lobster processing plant fire devastates N.S. community

The Wallace, N.S., community is rallying to help workers at a lobster facility that suffered fire damage.

A fire at a lobster processing plant has devastated a small community on Nova Scotia’s Northumberland Shore.

A fire tore through Aquashell Holdings Inc., a major employer in Wallace, N.S., on Monday morning.

Multiple vehicles were burned and the homes and community hall across the road were damaged by smoke.

“The flames were insanely intense, I mean the polls and the powerlines were blackened because they were going right across the road,” said Wallace Volunteer Fire Department Deputy Chief Michael Jameson.

“It was -10 I think at one point and the winds were just ripping off the water as you can see behind us. Because of that, it just fanned the flames for sure.”

More than 100 firefighters responded to the scene, some from as far away as Springhill.

The local fire department says the loss of Aquashell is “more than the loss of a building or a business.”

“It’s the loss of jobs, routines, and a place that powered our local economy and brought people together every day. For many families, this plant was a livelihood, and we know the weight of that is being felt across our community,” it said in a Tuesday post on social media.

The department says the fire went from an investigation call to a full engulfed commercial structure fire within 15 minutes.

Crews also had to deal with extremely cold and windy conditions, icy roads and frozen equipment.

“It was -10 I think at one point and the winds were just ripping off the water… because of that, it just fanned the flames," said Jamieson.

Roughly 50 people were working in the building at the time. There were no reported injuries.

Employee Jessica Thompson, who worked at the plant for 11 years, was inside the building when the fire broke out.

“We were just all working away and then there was smoke and we could smell something and we all ran out the building and it went up in flames. It went up pretty quick,” she said.

“It’s sad, hopefully they rebuild it and we can come back to work again… I enjoyed working here with a lot of different people.”

Fellow employee Matthew Thompson says they evacuated the building so fast, they didn’t even have a chance to get their coats.

“We’re all pretty close together anyways in there, so it was more or less get out and we all went out the back door together,” he said.

“We didn’t make it to where we kept our coats or boots or anything. It was just, get out of the building.”

“Chief Tom Flynn would also like to extend his personal thanks to every responder, volunteer, and supporting agency who stepped up in these challenging conditions to support Wallace when it mattered most,” the post goes on to say.

“Wallace has always been a tight-knit and resilient community. Hopefully this loss will be rebuilt better than before.”

Roughly 100 employees at the facility are now out of work.

Cumberland County Mayor Rod Gilroy says the Cumberland Business Connector has been asked to offer support to the company and its employees.

“The Aquashell plant has been a mainstay of the economy of north shore area of Cumberland County for decades,” he said in a written statement on Monday. “To lose a business and to lose these jobs is truly heartbreaking for all, particularly at this time of year.”

“We’re just all happy we got out safe. It is a bad time of year to do so, but we all made it out safe and that was the main thing, we’re all happy about that,” Matthew Thompson said.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Sean Mott and Jonathan MacInnis.

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