The fire that swept through the fourth and sixth floors of Saskatoon’s P&H Mill on 33rd Street is now under control, but Saskatoon Fire Department members were still on scene as of late afternoon (Fri).
Rob Hogan, Deputy Chief of Operations for the SFD, says at 9:33 Friday morning, Saskatoon Fire Department received a report of a fire at the flour mill.
“Staff had evacuated the building and had reported that there was a fire in a piece of machinery on the fourth floor. Crews on scene immediately called for more resources, so we called what we call ‘first alarm fire’, which brought two more engines, a ladder, a rescue, and the battalion chief,” Hogan stated.
After crews extinguished the flames engulfing the machinery, they noticed a hot exhaust pipe coming off of the piece of equipment. They followed it to the sixth floor, where they discovered a substantial fire.
A ladder truck was then used to flow water onto the fire for 30 minutes. Hogan says the weather continues to create obstacles for fire fighters such as frozen, broken, and tangled hose lines, and frozen ladders.
“The crews are doing the best they can, but it’s really cold. Their equipment freezes up really quick, the hoses freeze up really quick, their SCBA freeze up quite quick if they’re breathing on air, so these are really hard complications for them.”
No staff members were injured as a result of the fire, and Hogan suspects the building will be able to be repaired.
This video from Ryan O:
