7:15 a.m. UPDATE: AROUND 150 HOMES EVACUATED AROUND FIRE SCENE
A two-storey tall pile of styrofoam and building products was on fire in Belleville’s east end late Sunday night and into Monday morning. The fire was called in just before 11 o’clock.
Belleville firefighters battled the massive fire, located in a field on the corner of Haig Road and Station Street. The flames reached heights of up to 40 feet and sent a massive cloud of black smoke into the air. Acrid smoke continued to hang over the neighbourhoods in the Haig Road/Station Street area into the morning hours.
Support was called in from volunteer fire departments to man fire stations while the fire department battled the flames. Two large ladder trucks from Belleville fire were on scene along with a third called in from Quinte West, as well as extra tanker trucks from Quinte West stations 4 and 5. A truck that shoots out flame-dousing foam was called in from 8 Wing Trenton’s fire department.
The flames were knocked down after midnight and excavators and backhoes were called in to help douse hotspots around 2 a.m. Monday.
(Photo: submitted)
Belleville police evacuated nearby homes at the north end of Spruce Gardens and advised residents to avoid the area due to poor air quality and blowing debris. A city bus was set up at the corner of Station Street and Farley to assist anyone displaced by the evacuation and the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre was opened to offer shelter.
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Debris from fire. Photo: Allan-Michael Steele, Quinte News.
Police blocked off the roads at the intersection of Station Street and Farley, and at Haig road and Spruce Gardens, to keep people at a safe distance.
Destiny Bailey, a local resident watching from Haig Road, said she could see the flames from her apartment building at the other end of Haig Road.
“We were coming up just on Station Street there, and I noticed the cloud and the flames. I honestly thought it was a recycling plant to start, ’cause I didn’t realize how far back it was,” Bailey said. “When we drove back around we came and saw that it was the wood that’s been stored over here for the new houses that they’re going to be building.”
Burnt debris from the fire rained down on the surrounding area, with some debris pieces landing four blocks away. There were no reports of injury but EMS paramedics stood by near the scene.
Monday morning, Quinte News received several reports of debris from the fire landing in the west end of the city including around the Bay Bridge, Dundas Street East and West Hill.
Burnt chunks of Styrofoam litter the intersection of Hemlock Crescent and Hickory Grove, two blocks away from the fire. Photo By: Alan-Michael Steele, Quinte News
At 2:15 a.m. Monday smoke continues to settle over the area around the fire scene. This photo was taken on Hickory Grove. (Photo: Quinte News)
