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Fire Prompts Evacuation at Local Grocery Store

Friday, 21 December 2018 12:30

Photo courtesy of yelp.ca

Independent Grocer Owner Mark Wykes says the store is now back up and running.

A fire at the local Independent Grocer forced the evacuation of staff and shoppers for about an hour last night.

Owner Mark Wykes says the fire was potentially started in the mechanical room of the building, and that there were only some minor damages.

"Yesterday around dinner time we did have a small fire and some smoldering in the back that set off a sprinkler head upstairs. We had a little bit of flooding and some smoke in the building so we had to evacuate the building and unfortunately ask our customers to leave, which we never like to do."

Wykes says that everyone evacuated safely as the fire crews showed up.

"Fire trucks did show up and we knew we weren't going to be letting anyone back in anytime soon. We only were closed for about an hour. Staff were at our muster point at the corner of the lot but eventually we moved them across the street into the Northern Visions building to stay warm. We brought them back in 45 minutes later and then the public in after about an hour".

Wykes says operations are back to normal now as usual.

"The fire marshal is just looking and trying to see to get to the bottom of what happened. Really we're back to business as usual. Again I feel bad for asking out customers to leave the store, its not something you like to do. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and to come back and see us."

The Independent Grocer Chain is a part of Loblaw Companies, Canada's largest food distributor.

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