2nd spontaneous combustion leads to demolition at Flamborough veal plant

The storage facility of a veal processing plant in Flamborough is being demolished Wednesday after two spontaneous combustion incidents in five days.

Delft Blue Veal Inc. had a spontaneous fire break out on Dec. 17 at 4:45 a.m., in the storage building that contained organic materials, including potatoes and coffee grounds. The second spontaneous combustion happened Tuesday afternoon around 4 p.m. in the exact same structure.

The veal farm processes these organic materials, breaking down the material and putting it into an anaerobic digester with manure to produce methane. The methane then goes on to fuel the plants electricity. The initial incident caused $50,000 dollars in damage and a partial collapse to the storage building.

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“The materials were still inside. The owner was just taking care of the demolition” when the second event happened, said Claudio Mostacci of the Hamilton Fire Department.

“The organic material ignited through spontaneous combustion as it continued to break down” as a result of winds pushing more oxygen into the container Tuesday, he added.

“Because the building had collapsed and it was dangerous for firefighters or for anybody to go in there and pull it out, the materials remained there,” resulting in the second combustion.

The second incident caused no additional damage to the building. There were no injuries to people or to livestock in either incident.