Lewis Mouldings lumber plant on fire on the evening of July 13, 2021. (Facebook Photo)
The President of Lewis Mouldings in Weymouth is thanking firefighters and the community for their hard work and support.
On Tuesday night, fire destroyed a large portion of the business, which employs 90 people in the area.
It began in an area where dry lumber is stored, RCMP said the cause is not suspicious.
Jamie Lewis says when he arrived on site, firefighters were already battling the blaze.
“At one point they felt they almost had it under control, but it got in areas that firefighters couldn’t reach and it flared back up. It ultimately led to us losing a large percentage of our building, inventory and equipment,” said Lewis.
There were no injuries.
Lewis says he met with the employees to answer questions, and feels bad they have to go through more stress on the heels of the pandemic.
“A building and equipment, you can replace that. But the stress and pain, especially on the heels of COVID is another story. They didn’t need that, especially with what’s been going on over the last year and a half.”
Lewis says the next steps will be to assess what equipment is still operational, and once investigators and insurance are finished at the site, they’ll look at what can be salvaged and try to get back to operations as soon as possible.
22 fire departments and over 200 firefighters responded to the blaze, and many citizens dropped food off for them.
Lewis says there was so much food, many employees were able to take some home after the meeting last night.
