Photos by James Ferth, Louise Mcarthur and Nichola Walt
Damage estimates are over $500,000 following a fire at Murphy Paving in Hamilton Township on Friday, September 20, 2019.
Hamilton Township Fire Department and Cobourg Fire Department received the alarm at 2:25 p.m. for multiple items on fire at Jarvis Road and Stanton Road North at the end of Elgin Street East.
“When the pagers went off, as we were responding you could see a plume that was probably 300 feet in the air,” said Gene Thompson, Deputy Fire Chief with the Cobourg Fire Department.
“It was fully involved when we got on scene.”
Shortly after fire crews arrived the steel roof started to collapse the fire was that well involved.
“The biggest hazard was the hydro lines had burnt off and were still live and hanging across the mirror of a cube van.”
Lakefront Utility Services disconnected the hydro before Hydro One arrived on scene.
Northumberland OPP and Cobourg Police were on scene for traffic control and Northumberland County Paramedics were on-site in case of a medical emergency.
Thompson said there wasn’t a lot of damage to the businesses equipment.
“Once cube van had some scorching on the back of it. All their paving equipment were on trailers, so they were able to pull the trailers away from the fire. The only piece of equipment that was a total loss was a backhoe.”
Thompson said both Hamilton Township nad Cobourg Fire Department worked very well together battling the blaze.
Hamilton Township Fire Chief Kelly Serson said damage could reach $600,000 and investigators will return to the scene on Monday to try and determine a cause.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
