Stuck tortilla caused fire that damaged Moncton bakery

The founder of a Moncton bakery says a fire at the facility this week could have been much worse.

The founder of a large Moncton, N.B., bakery said a fire at the company’s facility this week was accidental and could gave been much worse.

Firefighters were called to Fancy Pokket Corporation on St. George Boulevard just before 6 p.m. Monday.

Fancy Pokket President and CEO Mike Timani said a tortilla loaf got stuck in the oven and caught fire and then moved onto a cooling conveyor belt.

Timani said the sprinkler system on the production floor went off, which minimized the damage.

“It dropped a lot of water. We do have water damage and that’s what we’re taking care of,” said Timani.

Timani said they are doing a complete “top-to-bottom” cleanup inside the St. George Boulevard facility.

No products are being produced right now, but that should change in a few days.

“I believe that we will probably by middle of next week have some lines running and by the end of the week we should be able to run all lines,” said Timani. “By the end of next week we should have the whole plant running.”

The company employs around 70 people, 40 of whom have been impacted by the fire.

“Those employees, we’re going to look after them. They’re going to be compensated,” said Timani.

Timani said he was at meetings at his other plant in South Carolina when he found out about the fire.

“It was ongoing. Calls and calls and calls because I want to make sure whatever the damage is that we could bring belts, etcetera, whatever we need, but yes, it was a major shock,” he said.

All of the employees were able to evacuate the building safely and no one was hurt.

Timani praised staff members for trying to extinguish the fire on their own before firefighters arrived.

Chief Conrad Landry of the Moncton Fire Department said the fire is not believed to be suspicious in any way.

Landry said the sprinkler system worked well putting out most of the fire.

“But water does do damage,” said Landry.

As far as his customers are concerned, Timani said they shouldn’t notice any sort of shortage of their products on the shelves.

Fancy Pokket is Atlantic Canada’s largest producer of pitas, flatbreads, wraps and bagels, according to their website, and they celebrated 35 years in business last June.

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