It took 50 fire fighters just over six hours to extinguish a fire started at Innisfail Meats, home of the The Mad Butcher, last Monday afternoon. Innisfail, Bowden and Red Deer County fire departments responded and spent a total of eight hours out on the call.
“We were on scene six hours and another couple hours to clean up equipment and put it away,” said John Syroid, Innisfail fire chief.
He said the most difficult part of putting out the flames and black smoke pluming from the top of the back building was in large part due to the construction of the building.
“There’s different level of ceilings and the fire load was great, it took a lot of work.”
Syroid was back on scene Wednesday morning with insurance adjusters and forensic inspectors and said it will still take awhile before an estimate on the cost of the damage is determined.
The damage to the building, though extensive, was limited to the back half of the business. The retail portion of the building remained intact.
The fire appears to have originated in a faulty propane appliance located on the kill floor, but is still currently under investigation.
Owner, Ron Burndred, was in the back of the shop where the animals are prepared for slaughter when a propane hose, used to stun the hogs, came apart, leaking propane, he told the Province Monday.
Police said about nine people were in the back and scrambled to safety. One person went back inside to turn off the propane. In total about 40 people were inside the building at the time the blaze broke out but everyone was able to escape uninjured.
Chris Forsythe, who was walking around town with friends near the RCMP detachment on 46 Street, saw smoke coming from the direction of the meat plant. They headed over to a fence backing onto the Henday Centre and climbed on top to get a view of the back of the building.
“We could hear the pigs squealing inside,” he said of arriving at the fence. Black smoke and flames were coming from the building and other community members gathered around the fence to watch the fire fighters douse the building.
Cecilia Lo, owner of D&R Drive-In, couldn’t figure out what all of the commotion was. People and their vehicles were flying into her parking lot and drive-thru to get a view of the smoke from the land behind her restaurant.
“We were like, ‘what is going on?’ and went to the back to see. That’s when we saw all the smoke.” She said she felt nervous and worried throughout the afternoon as vehicles raced through her lot to see what was going on,
“It’s dangerous. We have a sign that says one-way and people were going through it without looking,” she said, worried that there could have been a car accident.
She hopes people think twice before using her lot to turn around the next time there’s an accident or if a road gets closed.
Burndred said between 40 and 45 people are employed at his company. He said last Monday he would rebuild the store and wanted to reassure his employees and customers he was thinking of them.
Support poured on The Mad Butcher Canada Facebook Page over the course of last week.
People expressed their sadness for the fire and their excitement to see the store rebuilt.
“I hope there is a plan to open soon, your store is a favourite!” wrote one.
The page stated the shop would be closed until further notice.
