North Vancouver fire crews battle pellet plant fire near grain elevators

A grain facility fire that burned for several hours overnight along the North Vancouver waterfront started in the cooling fan of a pellet plant, according to the company that operates the terminal.

Jean-Marc Ruest, senior vice president of corporate affairs for Richardson Internationalsays the cause remains unclear.

"We're still investigating.At this point in time, it originated in a cooling fanso whether the fan was overheating as a result of operation, we're still looking into the details of that."

Crews spent hours working on the blaze at the North Vancouver terminalwhich handles grain and loads vessels for export.

Ruest says the fire started in the area wherescreenings of grain are transformed into pellets not the huge silos of stored grain. Most of the damage donewas from firefighting efforts, he says.

"The main operations of our plant ... will resume shortly this morning.The pelletizing functions of the plant will be suspended until we investigate the extent of th damage and do some clean up."

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North Vancouver City Fire Chief Dan Pistilli saidfirefighters had a very difficult time getting access to the flames.

Smoke could be seen billowing out of various metal ducts and pipes.

A little after midnight, firefighters had the fire knocked down, but they were keptbusy rooting outhot spots into the early hours of Thursday morning.

North Vancouver District fire crews were called to support the North Vancouver City firefighters.

At least two firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation by paramedics with B.C. Ambulance.