Fire leaves Irving Tissue plant with ‘significant’ smoke and water damage

Fire Chief Mark Cormier says all staff are safe after a fire at the Irving Tissue plant in Dieppe, N.B.

Firefighters from Dieppe and Moncton, N.B., responded to a fire at the Irving Tissue plant early Tuesday morning.

Dieppe Fire Chief Marc Cormier said the department received a call about the fire on Dawson Street at 5:15 a.m.

Crews were still on scene as of 12 p.m.

Cormier confirmed there were employees inside at the time of fire, but there were no injuries.

The fire department is asking people to avoid the area “so emergency crews can continue working safely and efficiently.”

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Cormier said when firefighters arrived shortly after 5 a.m. they saw smoke coming from inside the building.

“We called the Moncton Fire Department for assistance. We discovered a fire in the warehouse,” said Cormier. “No injuries reported to us. People had evacuated before we arrived.”

Cormier said an excavator was brought in to help remove inventory from inside the warehouse to get to the fire.

“The fire itself was not large, but it was hard to get to because the warehouse is packed with stacked products. We had to get to the scene of the fire to get water on it,” said Cormier.

The fire chief said the sprinkler system inside the plant worked well.

“The building itself is still in good condition. We had to cut a hole through the outside wall to access the area of origin,” said Cormier. “There is significant smoke damage and water damage.”

Around 20 firefighters were on scene at the peak of the fire, Cormier said.

The Irving Tissue plant is located in the Dieppe Industrial Park. It makes Royale-brand products, including toilet paper, paper towels, and napkins.

J.D. Irving, Limited says the fire caused minimal damage and the plant is in the process of restarting production.

“The plant’s deluge fire protection system activated and helped control the fire and it is currently contained. The Dieppe Fire Department remains on scene,” said communications vice president Marc Doucette.

“Thank you to our employees who went above and beyond to help our team evacuate safely, and to the Dieppe and Moncton fire departments and all first responders for their prompt actions.

Doucette added Irving Tissue is fully cooperating with local fire inspectors.

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