Suburban Business Parks

[raisethehammer]

Good news from the Ancaster Business Park today:

http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/466633

[SteelTown]

HA imagine the coffee roasting smell in that area in a few years

[LikeHamilton]

http://www.fruitionff.com/

Fruition Fruits & Fills Ltd. is an industry leading manufacturer of custom developed fruit based fillings, fondants & icings, and additional toppings for the baking, confectionary and dairy industries. Operating from a state of the art facility, Fruition is able to achieve unparalleled levels of efficiency, consistency and food safety in everything we manufacture.

The Fruition manufacturing facility has many core advantages that it can provide.

These include:

HACCP Certification
Kosher Certification for Canada and the USA (COR & OU)
Organic Certification (OCCP/Pro Cert)
Nut-free production environment
Industry leading levels of automation
In-line metal detection on all production
lines
If you require an ingredient supply organization that has achieved a "best in class" status, that can help you differentiate your product from the competition, is focused exclusively in the baking, confectionary and dairy industries, and operates from a strong and strategic distribution hub; please contact Fruition Fruits & Fills Ltd.

Fruition Fruits & Fills Products
Fruition Fruits & Fills is an innovative manufacturer of fruit and sugar-based products. We offer a comprehensive line of icings, fillings, purees and variegates to perfectly complement a wide variety of bakery and dairy products.

Fruition Fruits & Fills product lines include:

·Classic Pie Fillings ·Flavoured Fondants
·Supreme Pie Fillings ·Clear & Flavoured Glazes
·Classic Donut Fillings ·Icings, Frostings
·Specialty Donut Fillings ·Ice Cream Variegates
·Pastry Toppings ·Laminated Dough Fillings
·Spreads and Jams ·Yoghurt Fruits FOB
·Fruit Purees ·Yoghurt Fruits Swiss Style

Fruition Fruits & Fills Limited
2379 Speers Road, Oakville,

[markbarbera]

Mixed feelings here. While it is always nice to see a major tenant arrive, many people tend to overlook the environmental impact of a industrial coffee roasting facility. If the oven's chimney is not equipped with appropriate brush filtering, the roasting can release significant amounts of fine particulate matter.

[raisethehammer]

Mixed feelings here. While it is always nice to see a major tenant arrive, many people tend to overlook the environmental impact of a industrial coffee roasting facility. If the oven's chimney is not equipped with appropriate brush filtering, the roasting can release significant amounts of fine particulate matter.

would that be the same 'fine particulate matter' as all the cars driving to the new MEC?
JUST KIDDING! Lol. I couldn't resist.

Yea, based on that description posted above by Fair Hamilton they will be doing a lot more than roasting coffee.
I guess whenever you attract industrial tenants it's expected that some pollution will come with them. Let's hope the city enforces the best standards possible for this place.
Let's also hope that the city puts the environmental commissioner in place soon. Lord knows the provincial body is useless with virtually nobody enforcing their environmental regulations.

[SteelTown]

All the pastry and donuts are done in Brantford, we could of had that factory but we lost to Brantford.

So it's likely this will just be for roasting coffee beans.

[fastcarsfreedom]

SteelTown--Brantford parbakes the pastry and dough products on TDL's behalf--at last count TDL didn't own that facility or the company which operates it.

This operation setting up shop in Ancaster makes fillings, icings, etc (and is TDL owned)--which are added in-store and not in Brantford. Moreover, they have apparently assumed responsiblity for coffee roasting--which it sounds like Ancaster will be responsible for--with perhaps an eye on expansion--ultimately bringing the rest of the opreation down from Oakville...considering the size of the parcel they've acquired.

[raisethehammer]

the city owns these lands right?? So that $1.8 million purchase price is paid to the city??

[markbarbera]

would that be the same 'fine particulate matter' as all the cars driving to the new MEC?
JUST KIDDING! Lol. I couldn't resist.

Oh yeah, all that new traffic on the QEW heading to MEC Burlington is going to have such an impact I'd bet they're going to double the lane capacity and add another span to the skyway. Environment Canada will likely have an emissions testing van parked in their lot too.

In the future try thinking before posting garbage like this. And give the MEC thing a rest. I seem to recall a poster recently commenting about how tiresome it is to have someone moan on about the same old stuff all the time in every thread...

[raisethehammer]

bro...it was a joke. I even put a huge 'JUST KIDDING' so our anal mods would realize. no worries. :)

[realcity]

Now lets just bring home the Head Office from Oakville.

[fastcarsfreedom]

realcity--a nice sentiment--hell it would be great to bring the TDL headquarters to Hamilton. Nonetheless, "Home" for TDL from a corporate standpoint has always been Oakville...so in essence, a move to Hamilton would mean TDL leaving home as opposed to coming home.

[raisethehammer]

...but from a Ron Joyce/Tim Hortons standpoint, Hamilton is home.

[realcity]

^ especially since when the first Tim Horton's opened in 1964, Oakville on maps was referred to as Mimico ....

I have a map from 1961 of Canada. It shows Toronto and Hamilton and between -- Mimico -- no Oakville, no Burlington and no Mississauga (even Brampton was labeled). So basically Tim Horton's corp. is older then Oakville...

but who cares about that? Tim Horton's was founded in Hamilton. It's home office should be in Hamilton. or at a minimum some kind of office, if only for respect.

[fastcarsfreedom]

Must be an interesting map...Mimico is significantly further east and is part of Etobicoke. Moreover, the original Town of Oakville was founded in 1827...a few years prior to TDL.

I know I've given the short version of TDL's history in Oakville before--that being that Oakville was chosen in part for it's highway access...and in the 1970s...the relatively low cost of land. More importantly Joyce and Horton chose it because it was approximately the halfway point between Joyce's home in Aldershot and Horton's in Don Mills.

[realcity]

I'll scan it. it's from an encyclopedia. I know where Mimico is, there's a GO stop named for it. West of Etobicoke and one stop west of Port Credit, it's Mississauga.

I repeat:: but who cares about that? Tim Horton's was founded in Hamilton. It's home office should be in Hamilton.

Tim Horton died in 1968 (four years after the first location), Oakville was still irrelevant then. After Horton's death all the locations were in Hamilton and Ron Joyce didn't need a halfway point anymore after 1968.

I repeat:: but who cares about that? Tim Horton's was founded in Hamilton. It's home office should be in Hamilton.

[BCTed]

I'll scan it. it's from an encyclopedia. I know where Mimico is, there's a GO stop named for it. West of Etobicoke and one stop west of Port Credit, it's Mississauga.

I repeat:: but who cares about that? Tim Horton's was founded in Hamilton. It's home office should be in Hamilton.

Tim Horton died in 1968 (four years after the first location), Oakville was still irrelevant then. After Horton's death all the locations were in Hamilton and Ron Joyce didn't need a halfway point anymore after 1968.

I repeat:: but who cares about that? Tim Horton's was founded in Hamilton. It's home office should be in Hamilton.

The chain's first shop was located it in Hamilton, but that does not necessarily mean it was "founded" there. I don't see why the head office "should" be in Hamilton.

The United States of America was "founded" in Philadelphia, but that is no longer the country's capital city.

Conferences that led up to Canada's Confederation took place in a number of cities, but Ottawa was not one of them.

McMaster University was "founded" in Toronto.

Boeing moved its headquarters from Seattle to Chicago a few years ago.

There is a nice little display case in the Ottawa Street store. I don't think that the company "should" be obligated to set up anything in Hamilton beyond that.

[Millstone]

The chain's first shop was located it in Hamilton, but that does not necessarily mean it was "founded" there. I don't see why the head office "should" be in Hamilton.

The United States of America was "founded" in Philadelphia, but that is no longer the country's capital city.

Conferences that led up to Canada's Confederation took place in a number of cities, but Ottawa was not one of them.

McMaster University was "founded" in Toronto.

Boeing moved its headquarters from Seattle to Chicago a few years ago.

There is a nice little display case in the Ottawa Street store. I don't think that the company "should" be obligated to set up anything in Hamilton beyond that.
And I'm sure if TDL could've pulled out of that location by now they would've. It just has sentimental value.

[raisethehammer]

The chain's first shop was located it in Hamilton, but that does not necessarily mean it was "founded" there. I don't see why the head office "should" be in Hamilton.


LOL....so now you're telling us that Hortons WASN'T founded in Hamilton???
:koko:

[Millstone]

LOL....so now you're telling us that Hortons WASN'T founded in Hamilton???
:koko:

I was almost ready to refute this somehow, but I really can't argue with "The Tim Hortons chain was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario. (http://www.timhortons.com/en/about/index.html)"

[raisethehammer]

Lol....

[BCTed]

I was almost ready to refute this somehow, but I really can't argue with "The Tim Hortons chain was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario. (http://www.timhortons.com/en/about/index.html)"

I stand by my comment. I did not know if the company considered itself to have been founded in Hamilton or not ---- apparently it does.

[BCTed]

LOL....so now you're telling us that Hortons WASN'T founded in Hamilton???
:koko:

No. What I told you was that "the chain's first shop was located in Hamilton, but that does not necessarily mean it was 'founded' there." And that is completely true. The fact that it turns out the company does indeed consider itself to have been founded in Hamilton does not invalidate my statement in the least.

The location of a company's first shop does not necessarily match up with the location of the company's founding. Wal-Mart was founded in Rogers, Arkansas, but its first store was in Bentonville, Arkansas.

[emge]

The distinction between "founded in" and "first store" is kind of a moot point with Tim Hortons, isn't it?

The initial store was in Hamilton, and that's all anyone knows or cares about. Talks or whatever other preplanning went into the founding could have occurred in Kitchener or Madagascar for all anyone knows or cares.

Not that it makes much of a real difference to anyone that they're currently putting part of operations in an Ancaster business park, but if Tim Hortons chose to put headquarters here, it would be fitting and respect the history of the chain.

And they could probably do better than a display in one store... a Timmy's museum could be quite the destination. Like it or hate it, a lot of people have spent a lot of their life at Tim Hortons discussing things over coffee... and their slow-but-steady expansion has worked out well for the company... starting from Hamilton and radiating outwards.

[raisethehammer]

I was almost ready to refute this somehow, but I really can't argue with "The Tim Hortons chain was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario. (http://www.timhortons.com/en/about/index.html)"

Ted, believe me, none of us are shocked that you're "standing by your comment" despite reading what the company itself has to say on the matter.
We've come to expect it.

[BCTed]

Ted, believe me, none of us are shocked that you're "standing by your comment" despite reading what the company itself has to say on the matter.
We've come to expect it.

Come to expect what? I did not claim that Tim Hortons was not founded in Hamilton ---- I merely stated that its founding location was not necessarily linked to the location of its first donut shop. Anyone with a base level of reading comprehension can see that.

And where the company was "founded" was not related to my point, which is that TH has no obligation to place its head offices in Hamilton regardless of where it was founded or where its first store was located.

I pride myself on integrity and accuracy when it comes to facts. I defy you to ever find a claim that I made that was incorrect. In the rare case where I am wrong, I do admit to it.

Are you going to dredge up your outright lies about me claiming that there are no trucks in downtown Hamilton yet again or are you simply going to ignore my question?

[raisethehammer]

The chain's first shop was located it in Hamilton, but that does not necessarily mean it was "founded" there. I don't see why the head office "should" be in Hamilton.

The United States of America was "founded" in Philadelphia, but that is no longer the country's capital city.

Conferences that led up to Canada's Confederation took place in a number of cities, but Ottawa was not one of them.

McMaster University was "founded" in Toronto.


.

[BCTed]

.

And how is that equivalent to me stating that Tim Hortons was not founded in Hamilton?

At the time of the post, I did not know if it know if it was or was not. Millstone's post provided the conclusive answer.

I give up on you.

[realcity]

I stand by my comment. I did not know if the company considered itself to have been founded in Hamilton or not ---- apparently it does.

you better get to hospital because you've a third degree BUUUURNNN

[BCTed]

x

[SteelTown]

Hortons building Ancaster roasting plant
$30 million operation will employ 50

April 29, 2009
Lisa Grace Marr
http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/556902

ANCASTER - Tim Hortons is back in the city where it got its start to brew up another first: a coffee roasting plant built from scratch.

Company officials were on hand for an exclusive tour with The Hamilton Spectator yesterday of the $30-million, 74,000-square-foot plant still under construction.

“We have quite a long history in Hamilton, Store No. 1 is here,” said Don Schroeder, president and CEO, in an interview. “We also had great co-operation from the City of Hamilton in locating here.”

Tim Hortons bought the property in the industrial park on Cormorant Road in January. It owns another coffee roasting plant in Rochester, N.Y., bought in 2001 that was mothballed and needed renovations.

Together, the two coffee roasting plants will give Tim Hortons the capacity to produce 75 per cent of its own coffee. The rest is handled by third-party roasting companies.

The company has started recruiting about 50 full-time staff, and has begun hiring managers.

It’s hopeful news that comes the same day as Statistics Canada’s grim announcement the number of people applying for Employment Insurance benefits in the Hamilton/Burlington area jumped 83 per cent between February 2008 and February 2009.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger said city staff worked diligently along with the local utility companies to help the company start construction.

He said Tim Hortons’ new plant is a shot in the arm for the city’s beleaguered manufacturing sector.

“What it means is that manufacturing in the city is … a broad sector,” he said. “Jobs in today’s economy is what everyone is focusing on.”

Schroeder said Hamilton was chosen after a lengthy search for the right site with the right access to transportation routes and the company’s main distribution centre in Guelph.

Schroeder said building the plant is “a dream come true.”

“Now we can truly say we control our coffee from tree to cup.”

There are few brands as closely identified with one particular flavour as Tim Hortons.

The plant is an effort to improve quality control — “to raise the bar higher”for that Tim Hortons coffee taste.

Schroeder said one of the toughest things about getting that taste is that it’s built on an agricultural commodity affected by a variety of factors.

“Bottom line is every cup must taste the same in every store every day. That’s a significant challenge,” he said. “People often say to us, ‘There’s something different in your coffee.’ I say, ‘You’re right. It’s called TLC.’”

The beans come from Central and South America and are premium arabica beans.

Jim Wiant, vice-president of manufacturing and designer of the plant, said the Ancaster facility will also have two laboratories (one is known as the cupping room) for research and development.

Given the importance of those beans, this is the nerve centre of the operation.

It’s run by a team of international flavour sharpshooters who can detect any drop in quality or assortment of the beans coming in the back door.

About 65 per cent of the green beans (unroasted) will eventually come to the Hamilton plant, with the remainder going to the Rochester plant.

Once the beans arrive at the loading docks, they’re stored and then sorted to a recipe as guarded as Kentucky Fried Chicken’s.

The sorted beans are then either shipped out for roasting in “super sacks” or kept in the plant, said Wiant.

After roasting, the beans are cooled by water slightly, demoisturized, put through a grinder and then packed at a mind-boggling speed of 1,100 pouches a minute, with each pouch representing one pot of coffee.

Upstairs features a large lunch room, washrooms, offices and a conference room overlooking the production floor for training Tim Hortons franchisees.

The plant is scheduled to open in the fall.

Wiant said the plant was built with an eye to future expansion: many exterior walls can be easily removed and there are 1.6 hectares available for even more construction.

“When you build a plant like this, you take the long view of the community,” said Wiant.

“Hamilton is a good place to be in. People here have a good work ethic.”

By The Numbers
Facility has two nine-metre-tall roasters

Once operational, it will keep four weeks of green beans in inventory, stored over 25,000 square feet of space on three-metre-tall pallets.

There are eight loading docks, four in, four out.

There are 13-metre-tall silos of green beans holding the secret recipe for Tim Hortons coffee.

It’s built on four hectares of land.

Construction costs: $30 million.

Will employ 50 people.

Plant is 74,000 square feet.

It will churn out 1,100 pouches a minute on the high speed packer (one pouch makes a pot of coffee).

[Berklon]

Please delete this thread if it's already mentioned elsewhere (I didn't see it anywhere, but maybe I'm blind). I first heard about it on the news feed in the elevator at work in TO:

Tims plans Hamilton coffee plant

$30-million roasting facility will create 130 jobs in Steeltown

April 29, 2009
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc. says it plans to build a $30-million coffee bean production and roasting plant in Hamilton, a move that will create about 130 jobs.

The Oakville company said Wednesday the new plant, which will also contain a research centre, will improve efficiencies and quality control at the retailer.

The plant will create 80 construction jobs and 50 operating jobs when it opens at the end of the year, Hortons said.

"Coffee is the foundation of our success," said Don Schroeder, president and CEO of the company. "This $30-million investment in coffee research and production is one of the largest of its kind in Canada and reinforces our commitment to delivering the best cup of coffee every time to every customer."

Tim Hortons operates a second coffee plant in Rochester, N.Y.. When fully operating, the two plants will produce about 75 per cent of the company's coffee requirements.

Construction is underway and the plant is expected to be operating in the fourth quarter.

At the end of last year, Tim Hortons had 3,437 restaurants, including 2,917 in Canada and 520 in the United States.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/626233

[matt602]

Any idea where this plant will be? Like, actually IN Hamilton proper or on the fringe of the city out by the airport or something?

[crhayes]

I love how Tim Horton's has become an Oakville company despite having started in Hamilton.
:shrug:

[flar]

I'm pretty sure this will be in the Ancaster business park.

[FairHamilton]

Yes, Ancaster.

[adam]

I love how Tim Horton's has become an Oakville company despite having started in Hamilton.
:shrug:

I'm pretty sure most of it is owned by US shareholders anyway!

[fastcarsfreedom]

Not to beat a dead-horse but TDL hasn't "become" an Oakville company--as a corporate entity, it always has been.

[realcity]

^ whatever
it should have its head office in Hamilton

Do you think Walmart will take its head office out of Bentonville for something more sexy?

Tim Hortons is working class coffee, it's the Walmart of the donut. what better city to have its HO located then the City where it all began and the coffee of the working family.

Traders....

[markbarbera]

Remember this post I made a while back about Tim Horton's new roasting facility in Ancaster?

Mixed feelings here. While it is always nice to see a major tenant arrive, many people tend to overlook the environmental impact of a industrial coffee roasting facility. If the oven's chimney is not equipped with appropriate brush filtering, the roasting can release significant amounts of fine particulate matter.

This was in today's Spec:

Coffee roaster in Ancaster appealing emissions standards

August 06, 2009
Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator

Tim Hortons is appealing odour-control rules imposed on its $30-million coffee roasting plant by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

The complaint cites onerous, unnecessary and "patently unreasonable" conditions in the ministry's certificate of approval for air emissions.

It also says a requirement to report every environmental complaint within two days "creates a significant, unnecessary and duplicative administrative burden and is a more onerous reporting standard than what is required by the regulatory reporting requirements."

The certificate is in the name of Fruition Manufacturing Ltd., operating as Maidstone Coffee Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of TDL Group Corp. of Oakville, which runs Tim Hortons.

Tim Hortons spokesperson David Morelli said yesterday it would be inappropriate to comment with the appeal pending.

The emissions issue is significant because coffee roasting releases a variety of volatile organic compounds, particulate matter and smoke. A quick Google search turns up many instances of odour complaints and enforcement measures involving coffee roasters in other places.

The ministry says airborne contaminants from the Tim Hortons plant will include particles, nitrogen oxides and acrolein, which is also found in tobacco smoke and vehicle exhaust. The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says acrolein is a toxic substance that causes inflammation and irritation of the skin, respiratory tract and mucous membranes. Its odour is described as pungent and suffocating.

The plant being built on Cormorant Drive in the Ancaster Industrial Park, slated to open later this year, will produce 1,000 one-pot pouches of ground coffee a minute.

The approval certificate says it will have three gas-fired roasting drums, each with a capacity of 3,000 kilograms of green, or unroasted, coffee beans an hour and each equipped with a catalytic incinerator to remove contaminants.

The full text of the appeal and the approval certificate can be found online by searching for No. 010-5867 on the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry, www.ebr.gov.on.ca. Appeals under the Environmental Protection Act are heard by the Environmental Review Tribunal. Updates on the case, No. 09-064, will be available at www.ert.gov.on.ca.

Looks like the Environment Ministry is going to keep a close look on this facility, and Timmies doesn't seem too happy about it...

[adam]

i can see the sign at each register now:
"Due to recent government regulations, we are forced to raise the price to $2 a cup"

:haha:

[markbarbera]

Today's Spec online edition:

Propane blasts, roof collapse in Ancaster blaze

ANCASTER – A large propane tank has exploded and collapsed part of the roof of an Ancaster woodworking plant which has been burning most of the night.

About 60 Hamilton firefighters and 18 fire vehicles have been sent to battle the three-alarm fire at Archmill House Inc., a specialty millwork manufacturing plant on Osprey Drive which makes cabinets and architectural mouldings for homes and businesses.

The fire has forced the closure of a number of businesses the Ancaster industrial park off Wilson Street at Tradewinds Drive as emergency crews have closed access roads.

The blaze was discovered by police sent to check on an alarm at the building at 3 a.m.

Fire department spokesman John Verbeek said one of three large propane tanks at the rear of the 35,000-square-foot main building exploded at 6:15 a.m. after firefighters had moved back out of the building into defensive positions.

“When the crews got there, they found 20-foot flames where plywood is stored on open racks in the centre area,” he said.

“The fire began spreading rapidly across the roof and the district chief ordered evacuation as it was no longer safe there.”

Verbeek said the wood products and lumber stocks in the building are burning fiercely, but flames have not reached flammable liquids used in manufacturing because they are stored in a separate room off the main building which is protected by a heavy fire door.

Verbeek said firefighters had difficulty attacking the fire with Aerial trucks because it is not safe to move the rigs between the blazing structure and businesses beside it.

But the heavy rigs can not cross the rough ground and wet area behind Archmill.

So, a 4x4 vehicle equipped with a water gun used to fight brush fires has been brought in to come in behind the plant from Comorant Drive

Wind conditions are light and most of the pall of heavy black smoke from the fire is rising straight into the sky. Verbeek said there was smoke drifting over towards the Rymal Road and Fiddlers Green area so police officers were sent there to advise residents of the fire. There was no evacuation order for that area, though neighbours were told to close windows.

Businesses located on either side of the blazing plant have not been damaged, but hydro has been cut off in the neighbourhood.

Hamilton police have been sent into the area to control bystanders who can’t resist slipping between the industrial buildings for a closer look

Police and fire crews reported several explosions in the building just after they arrived. It is believed these were caused by aerosol materials used in the manufacturing process which detonated.

Archmill added a major extension to the plant several years ago.

No one was working in the building when the blaze was discovered.

By 5 a.m. the fire was burning fiercely with fire crews setting up fixed water cannons around the building. they have also asked the city to boost water pressure to mains in the area surrounding the fire.

The Ontario Fire Marshal’s office has been called.

Osprey Drive is located in an industrial area off Wilson Street East in Ancaster, west of Duff’s corners at Garner Road and Wilson Street

[SteelTown]

You can see the thick grey clouds pushing towards Stoney Creek. Drove along the Linc and you can smell it.

[BrianE]

Hell you can smell it and see smoke in the air where I live down by Gage Ave and Cumberland St.

[highwater]

What a shame. I feel terrible for the owner and employees.

[SteelTown]

Keep your windows closed: Officials

[realcity]

o good advice and then 'duck and cover'

http://ovalscream.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/duck-and-cover.jpg

[markbarbera]

o good advice and then 'duck and cover'

http://ovalscream.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/duck-and-cover.jpg

LOL ah yes, duck and cover will keep you safe from the A-bomb.

[emge]

I hope they have good insurance... that's awful for them. My gut turns to see a business that does custom woodwork like this so thrown off... Iit feels worse when it's such quality/handcrafted/skilled work messed up, and it'll take a lot to redo custom orders.

[emge]

Hm, well, that`s not good:

Testing for fire toxics delayed
MOE’s Hamilton equipment out of action
August 25, 2009 Dana Brown
The Hamilton Spectator

ANCASTER – Analysis of the black smoke pouring from an Ancaster fire has been delayed because Hamilton testing equipment is out of action.

MOE officials are at the Ancaster Industrial Park taking samples of the cloud. But they were unable to test for toxics in the first hours of the blaze because they were waiting for equipment from Sarnia.

“Quite frankly, this is unconscionable” said Councillor Lloyd Ferguson.

“If there is a problem, we need to tell the public.”

Ferguson said he will be pressing the public health department to get its own air-monitoring equipment.

Firefighters battled a blaze at Archmill House Inc. starting shortly after 3 a.m. It is a woodworking operation.

At 11 a.m., they expected that it would be several hours before the fire, which is now out, was completely knocked down.

The collapsed roof and walls at the rear of the building made it difficult to extinguish the last fires with water.

Foam trucks from the airport helped battle the blaze.

“What the foam is doing is layering a blanket across it and smothering the fire,” Hamilton Fire spokesman John Verbeek said shortly after 10:30 this morning. “It appears that it is being effective.

“We don’t have as much of the smoke plume now as what we did half an hour ago even.”

About 60 Hamilton firefighters and 18 fire vehicles attended the three-alarm blaze. Archmill House is a specialty millwork manufacturing plant on Osprey Drive which makes cabinets and architectural mouldings for homes and businesses.
The fire forced the closure of many businesses in the Ancaster industrial park off Wilson Street at Tradewinds Drive after emergency crews closed access roads.

Heavy smoke drifting through the area forced the closure of all ramps from Hwy 403 to Hwy 6 South. The nearby portion of Hwy. 6 was also closed. The Hwy 6 bypass was closed from the 403 to Upper James.

Officials urged Ancaster and Hamilton Mountain residents to keep their windows closed as smoke billowed from the building.

Ontario Provincial Police Constable Graham Williamson said the highway ramps were closed about 7:30 a.m. “as a precaution.” Thankfully, there were no accidents caused by the smoke, which hampered visibility along those roads.

The blaze was discovered by police, who were sent to check on an alarm at the building at 3 a.m.

Verbeek said one of three large propane tanks at the rear of the 35,000-square-foot main building exploded at 6:15 a.m. after firefighters had moved back out of the building into defensive positions.

“When the crews got there, they found 20-foot flames where plywood is stored on open racks in the centre area,” he said.

“The fire began spreading rapidly across the roof and the district chief ordered evacuation as it was no longer safe there.”

Verbeek said the wood products, laminates and lumber stocks in the building burned fiercely, but flames had not reached flammable liquids used in manufacturing because they are stored in a separate room off the main building, protected by a heavy fire door.

Verbeek said firefighters had difficulty attacking the fire with aerial trucks because wasn’t safe to move the rigs between the blazing structure and businesses beside it.

The heavy rigs could not cross the rough ground and wet area behind Archmill. So, a four-by-four vehicle equipped with a water gun used to fight brush fires was brought in behind the plant from Cormorant Drive. A foam truck from Hamilton airport was called in to extinguish stubborn flames not responding to water.

Verbeek said there was smoke drifting over towards the Rymal Road and Fiddlers Green area so police officers were sent there to advise residents of the fire. There was no evacuation order for that area, though neighbours were told to close windows.

Businesses located on either side of the blazing plant were not damaged, but hydro was cut off in the neighbourhood.

Hamilton police were sent into the area to control bystanders who couldn’t resist slipping between the industrial buildings for a closer look.

Police and fire crews reported several explosions in the building just after they arrived. It is believed these were caused by aerosol materials used in the manufacturing process which detonated.

Archmill added a major extension to the plant several years ago.

No one was working in the building when the blaze was discovered.

By 5 a.m. the fire was burning fiercely with fire crews setting up fixed water cannons around the building. They also asked the city to boost water pressure to mains in the area surrounding the fire.
With files from John Burman

[BrianE]

In a City like Hamilton with all this industry, the MOE doesn't have a working mobile Air sampling device? Amazing.

I can see why Environment Hamilton and the neighborhoods that live East of Stelco and Dofasco think the MOE is a joke... it's because they are.

[realcity]

^ good point. LOL it was in Sarnia. What the province has only one? Don't worry if Hamilton gets a mobile air device it'll be kept in Toronto.