A fire that completely destroyed buildings and equipment at the Francis Cooke Regional Landfill is under investigation and has temporarily caused a shut down of operations.
A fire that completely destroyed buildings and equipment at the Francis Cooke Regional Landfill is under investigation and has temporarily caused a shut down of operations.
The main office, scale station and a truck at the class 3 facility were destroyed in the blaze.
Andrew Calder, Chief Administrative Officer for Bow Valley Waste Management Commission, said they are hoping to have operations running again by Wednesday (Nov. 25). The administration office will be temporarily based out of the Exshaw Hall’ s media room.
“The site is going to be closed for the next few days until operation is running safely,” said Calder.
Emergency crews believe the blaze ignited in the early morning hours on Sunday (Nov. 22), but the damage wasn’ t discovered until Monday morning when employees arrived for work.
Some light smoke escaping from the wreckage was all that remained of the buildings when Exshaw Fire-Rescue arrived to on Monday morning, said Exshaw Fire Chief Rick Lyster.
“We didn’ t put any water on it to preserve it for investigation,” said Lyster.
Damage estimates are between $300,000 and $500,000.
The landfill is about four kilometres east of Exshaw in the MD of Bighorn.
