BLUMENORT, Man. – Investigators were still gathering clues this week in attempts to learn who set fire to a poultry production plant here.
The Oct. 7 fire at Granny’s Poultry Co-operative caused an estimated $2.5 million in damages. More than 100 employees have been laid off because of the blaze.
The office of the fire commissioner said last week the fire was deliberately set. However, police would not speculate on a motive. Details about the cause of the fire were not disclosed.
“This will be a long, involved process,” said Staff Sgt. Ray Kolstad of the Steinbach RCMP. “It’s a huge plant and an awful lot of individuals will have to be interviewed.”
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The fire at Granny’s Poultry killed hundreds of chickens and knocked the plant out of production just before Thanksgiving. It also forced more than 100 people living near the plant to leave the area for several hours.
The plant was able to resume production last week after repairing its killing and eviscerating floors. But, it could take more than three months to restore the cutting floor to full production, said Wayne Morrison, Granny’s Poultry general manager.
“There’s a lot of hard work to be done by a lot of people,” he said. “There’s a strong resolve by everyone to get it done and to get back up to speed as quickly as possible.”
The blaze was started in an overhead storage area where corrugated cartons were kept. The cutting floor, where chickens are carved into portions, was in the area hardest hit by the fire.
In the interim, Granny’s Poultry is sending chickens elsewhere for cutting. Part of that work is being done by Dunn-Rite Food Products, another large poultry processor in Manitoba. Chickens are also being sent out of province.
Morrison said they hope to do some cutting and deboning work at the Blumenort plant in two to three weeks.
Morrison was mystified last week as to why someone would set fire to the processing plant.
“We certainly don’t have any idea of any motive. We can only hope that no matter what the situation was that it can be brought to a successful conclusion very quickly.”
The fire at Granny’s Poultry was one of at least three major fires in southern Manitoba this fall involving livestock.
