Columns of smoke and fire filled the Sooke skies Sunday afternoon.
A cement manufacturing plant, only metres from Edward Milne Community School and Sooke Tool Rentals, caught fire around 5:30 p.m.
Multiple 911 fire calls alerted Sooke Fire Rescue to the blaze.
Upon arrival they had to break the lock on a fence to gain access and found the cement manufacturing plant fully engulfed in flames.
"There are many complexities when dealing with a incident like this” said Sooke Fire Rescue Chief Kenn Mount. “Explosions, heavy equipment, power lines that were compromised and trying to access it from the school side to deal with the trees on fire.”
Crews were able to quickly put out the fire on the burning trees and concentrate on the burning equipment, which was a challenge due to fuel and hydronic fluids used in the machinery.
Due to the size and nature of the fire, several other fire departments in the area responded for mutual aid.
The fire was contained and put out over several hours.
Fire investigators were combing through charred debris today to determine a cause but no indication as of yet to what started it. Damage to the facility is estimated to be around half a million dollars. There were fork lifts, bobcats and specialty machinery to make the cement forms that were all destroyed.
No one was at the facility when the blaze broke out and there were no injuries.
Luckily there was no damage to the school or surrounding businesses.
The cement manufacturing business leases space on the Butler Brothers property adjacent to Edward Milne Community School.
RCMP were also on scene investigating.
