Arson has been identified as the cause for a fire that broke out last Wednesday at the Real Canadian Wholesale Club in Frontier Mall.
That is according to North Battleford Fire and Emergency Services, who also say the investigation of the blaze that took place in the early evening hours of Sept. 8 is now in the hands of the RCMP.
The fire department, RCMP and officials from the fire commissioners office spent the initial 48-hour period investigating the cause and origin of the blaze. From that initial investigation the fire department determined arson was the cause of the fire.
"Now it's a criminal offence, so now the RCMP is continuing with their investigation," said Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Steinborn.
According to Steinborn, the fire department's investigation found that one aisle of the store sustained major damage. However, he said they did not find anything in the area, such as electrical wires or outlets, that could have potentially been the cause of the fire.
"There's nothing there to start a fire, there's no electrical there," said Steinborn. "The fire was started in the area of the store where there was Styrofoam plates and cups, that kind of stuff."
The entire store was full of smoke from floor to ceiling, Steinborn said, and crews had to use thermal imaging cameras to detect where the hottest areas were to locate the fire, as well as to find out if anyone was still in the store.
It brought them over to the southwest corner of the store, where heat from the burning styrofoam activated the sprinkler heads, which controlled the fire until the firefighters were able to get to the scene.
"The sprinklers were a big plus in this fire," Steinborn said. "If the sprinkers weren't there, the fire could have been a lot worse."
He mentioned there had been a lot of combustibles and clothing in the area that could have ignited quickly.
No one was hurt in the fire. Steinborn said the entire store was evacuated and credited the employees and customers for the timely response, as well as the fire department. Steinborn also said in a statement that the situation "had the potential of being much worse than it was because the fire was burning in an area with plenty of combustibles. Fortunately, there were no injuries and everyone was evacuated safely."
Special constables and the RCMP were also on the scene blocking traffic, which Steinborn credited for clearing the scene and allowing easy access for fire apparatus. The fire crews remained on scene for over three hours. A total of 16 firefighters, two pumper trucks, one ladder truck, one rescue unit and three command units responded
Frontier Mall manager Cheryl Cook-Taylor praised the fire department and other emergency personnel for getting the situation under control as quickly as they did.
"The mall was evacuated very quickly after the report of the fire came in," said Cook-Taylor, who noted that the entire mall had to be shut down.
"Boston Pizza, Shoppers Drug Mart and Easyhome were still open, and of course they had to be evacuated," Cook-Taylor said. Those three businesses reopened their doors after a couple of hours once the fire was under control.
Cook-Taylor said the fire had no impact on the rest of the mall, which reopened for business the next morning as usual. She noted Wholesale Club employees worked hard to get back up and running quickly.
According to Wholesale Club employees, health inspectors had been through the store and identified a large number food items that needed to be thrown out due to the smoke, which included fruits, vegetables and milk products, among others. The store was also cleaned to remove soot left by the blaze.
Fans were set up to clear the smoke. All the smoke was cleared by 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Steinborn said.
As of Saturday morning the Wholesale Club was back open for business. However, the impact of the fire was evident to customers there as the southwest corner of the store was still closed and cordoned off.
The location of the fire is particularly suspicious as Loblaws had slated the Real Canadian Wholesale Club location for closure earlier this year, prompting layoff notices to be sent to employees.
Some more details have been learned recently about Loblaws' future plans at the mall. Staff say Loblaws is planning to replace the Wholesale Club with a "No Frills" branded store at the same location, with the changeover to the new brand expected to happen gradually over the coming several weeks.
The switchover is in line with similar conversions of other Wholesale Club locations to the "No Frills" brand in western Canada, including at their Estevan location.
Loblaws had issued 90-day layoff notices to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union employees at the Wholesale Club three months ago as part of the changeover.
