Blaze at Thompson factory irks locals

As the community dealt with stifling temperatures earlier this week, a controlled burn raged for more than 24 hours on the lot of the Thompson factory, frustrating Kahnawa’kehró:non and posing a danger to Kahnawake and surrounding communities.

“The only thing I have to say about the fire is that it caused a lot of breathing issues with our clients and staff over the last couple nights,” said Ronnie Stacey, bingo manager at the Mohawk Super Bingo, which is near the site. “The smoke and ash started covering our cars, and the embers were landing on the bingo hall and in the parking lot from 7 or 8 p.m. Sunday night and continued all night and throughout the day Monday.”

Stacey said that on Monday evening, customers and staff were complaining about nausea and headaches from the smoke. By then, the Kahnawake Fire Brigade had already been denied entry to the site.

“The smoke created from the fires behind Thompson’s factory was not just wood smoke but also smelled of burning trash,” added Stacey.

According to Kahnawake Fire Brigade (KFB) fire chief Wihse Stacey, there was no evidence found - once the department finally gained access to the lot - of garbage being incinerated. Rather, it appears brush and wood was being burned, he said.

That doesn’t mean the situation wasn’t dangerous, however, with the heat of such a large fire capable of spreading ash across a wide area.

“Sometimes it can move up to a mile, even farther in the right conditions,” said Wihse. “Even embers, actual burning material can fly up to a mile away and start secondary fires.”

This risk was compounded by the weather conditions. Monday, while the fire burned, a heat record for August 11 was set in Montreal, with temperatures at the airport reaching 35.1 C. Health risks are an additional concern in these conditions, for the public and firefighters alike.

“We’re not wearing shorts and a t-shirt to fight these fires. We have to have coveralls on, and it’s extremely labour-intensive work,” Wihse said.

“Plus there’s the community members who could be suffering from cardiac issues, from asthma. There’s a huge number of health-related issues that it will affect, and obviously that wasn’t taken into account.”

Wihse said initially he was informed the fire brigade was being accused of having a controlled burn itself, leading him to publish a communique on Monday morning indicating this was not the case.

“It’s a very dangerous activity. It’s very difficult to control,” said Wihse. “There’s definitely no way we would do it in weather like this. This is about as dry as I’ve seen it in quite a few years.”

The KFB had not been informed on Sunday night when the fire began, only learning about it on Monday morning, at which time the officer in charge was not allowed on the site. They were told at the time that the fire was nearly out.

On Monday evening, the KFB received a call informing them ashes were falling near the bingo hall. “That’s what triggered our response,” Wihse said. Firefighters extinguished about 99 percent of the fire, with some residual smoke after that, with no risk of further spreading.

Community member Debbie McGregor was among those who felt the effects of the fire.

“The smell from the smoke kept giving me headaches and an annoying cough,” she said.

“I feel that everyone should automatically know the dangers of burning any sort of fire in this heat. Especially with all the wild fires going on in the prairies right now, we don’t need to add more toxins in the atmosphere.”

Wihse said that while small bonfires in backyards tend to be okay, large controlled burns can be very dangerous, especially in these conditions. Separate from this situation, he said that while he has been asked about why the KFB has not issued any fire bans, he hadn’t even considered it until recently, with extreme temperatures and dry conditions making fires of all kinds more dangerous.

“It’s never been as significant as it is now, at least not this year,” he said. Regular rainfall has fortunately helped mitigate the risk, he added.

Lee Thompson, the owner of the factory, could not be reached for comment. A woman who identified herself as an employee of the Thompson Distillery store beside it stopped The Eastern Door from walking to the factory to ask, saying it would be trespassing. However, she made a phone call and said she was told the owner did not want to grant an interview.

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Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter