Fire destroys Capital Seafood plant in Eastern Passage

The Capital Seafood fish processing plant in Eastern Passage, N.S., is nothing but a charred wreck Thursday morningafterfire broke out and destroyed the building Wednesdaynight.

No one was injured in the blaze. The plant isowned by Chinese companyZoneco, and as of last May employed about 60 people.

On Thursday morning, fire crews were still trying to put out hot spots.

"We're waiting to bring in an excavator in," said Brad Connors, division commander with Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency.

"In a fire situation like this when the roof collapses we have some void spaces that we can't get at the fire. So once we get the excavator in they can lift some stuff off and then the crews can get the hoses in on those areas."

As parts of the roofare moved out of the way fire investigators will begin combing the scene to try and determine what caused the fire.

The long, two-storey building already had flames shooting out of its roof by the time firefighters arrived Wednesday night, said Connors.

"On the second floor was a spot they housed all their packing materials and stuff so the whole second floor was full of cardboard and Styrofoam-type material."

Fire crews managed to contain the fire to the Capital Seafood building but heat from the flames still damaged some fishing gear near the structure.

Thousands of kilograms of bait lost

The fish plant was also where local fishermen kept their bait.

"Our bait, our trawl, everything we use for the groundfish season, plus we had all our bait in there for lobstering and she's gone," said fisherman Tom Henneberry.

He had 6,803 kilograms of herring, mackerel and redfish stored at the plant to use as bait. It was all destroyed in the fire.

He said he will either need to buy new bait, or fish for it. Even if he catches enough, he said he will have no place to freeze it.

Many fishermen only put their bait in the fish plant in the last week or so, according to Henneberry.

"Just another mountain to climb, we'll get over it," he said.

In 2015 the company applied to expand the fish plant. It's not clear how thisfire will effect those plans.