WINNIPEG – An award-winning bottled-water plant in southeastern Manitoba will have to be rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire.
The fire started at Sky Blue Water’s bottling facility in Middlebro, Man., at about 3:30 a.m. Monday.
“I was shocked at how big it was,” said Rob Van Dyk, a plant employee. “You couldn’t really see the fire ‘cause it’s a steel building, but you see lots and lots of black smoke.”
Fire crews from Sprague and Piney were called in to help battle the blaze.
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Fire investigators are looking for a cause but foul play is not suspected.
“Just the fact it has the cardboard boxes that burn rapidly and the millions of bottles, they’re compressed until they’re filled with water, so it was a challenge for the fire crews. You needed a lot of water to deal with it,” said Mike Purtill of the Office of the Fire Commissioner.
The company has won several international awards for its bottled water, with its Simply Natural Canadian Spring Water named the best non-carbonated bottled water at the Berkley Springs International Water Tasting awards in 2001.
The facility produced one million bottles of water per day for customers such as Superstore, Safeway and Sobeys, with 15 full-time employees.
Company officials said they plan to rebuild.
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