By John DeCoste
Firefighters and equipment from Kentville, New Minas and Waterville and
District spent most of Sunday afternoon at the scene of a fire in a grain
dryer at the Big East Grain Centre in Steam Mill.
Kentville firefighters received the original alarm around noon, and once
they arrived on scene and saw what they were dealing with, called for
mutual aid.
Kentville acting fire chief Ryan MacEachern termed the fire inside the
large grain dryer "stubborn," in that firefighters "had to fight a fire on
the inside from the outside" until holes could be cut in the exterior of
the structure to allow for water to be trained inside. Firefighters were
still on scene at 3:45 p.m. and MacEachern expected they likely would be
"for a while yet."
There was no immediate cause for the fire, which was apparently discovered
by workers doing their rounds.
MacEachern confirmed the fire department would be doing an investigation,
likely along with insurance officials as the structure was apparently
fully insured.
