Hy Sale MITCHELL ADVOCATE Fire destroys recently re-built processing plant north of Mitchell Damage estimated at $2.5 million ANDY BADER Mere days before a new, cus- tom-made rutabaga Weleda plant north of | pin fone to gin operation again, have to start anew after a second devasting fire razed the entire building July 15. No injuries were reported in the fire, as the West Perth Fire Depart- ment (WPFD) was called at 3:39 p.m. Monday afternoon to a fire inside the rutabaga processing plant at the Stovel-Siemon facili- ty, located at 6115 Line 39 in West Perth that caused more than $2.5 million in damage. “We were hoping to start push- ing product through yesterday Guly 17),” said co-owner Darryl Siemon Thursday. More than two-and-a-half years ago, on Dec. 26, 2021, their original 60-year-old processing plant caught fire and was gutted. It has taken the family this long to re- build as the structure was mee blaze, and he and another worker were inside and heard something pop and foughtit as best red could before firefighters arrive “[wasin the plant wlan aa Gr ithappened. I was working over on the washer side and then all of a sudden I heard one big loud pop, almost like a contact or something flipped or broke,” he said. “Theterrible SS ame tested it out so many times, and this time I don’t knowwhat carpe 2 he continued. “We're wondering if a power surge went through. We tested it multiple times before and there were no problems. “I can’t really remember what happened before that ... my mind- set when I saw it on fire was save it and. don’t worry about anything else. Perth East/West Perth fire Chief Bill Hunter said firefighters “made gressive interior attack but were forced back eee due to smoke and fire conditions.” Por- tions ofthe buildingeollapsed due inits pein withh equipmen Siemon nd their waxer caught on fire which started the latest total loss. “We had to bring in heavy equip- menttoremovesteel toallowaccess WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2024 3 EET Firefighters from across the region took hours fighting a fire July 15 that completed destroyed a freshly-t -recon- structed rutabaga processing plant at the Stovel-Siemon facility, located at ous Line 39 in West Perth (just north of Mite! itchell). West Perth Fire Department of officials said the blaze caused $2. e and is not consid- 5 mi ered suspicious. Two and a half years ago, the facility burned to the ground A the finishing touches were being added to its replacement. for our firefighters to fully extin- guish the blaze,” Chief Hunter said. The fire is not considered suspi- cious, and the investigation is on- going. The Ontario Fire Marshal was contacted but did not attend. Siemon said much of the new design was unique to their busi- ness and ough to replicate, but having Ze se it once it should be quicker to complete. “The biggest part was how long it took to get to this point. It’s not stuff you just go grab off the shelves. This was all hand-fabri- cated by us or people we hired out to do stuff. We did 90 per cent of this stuff ourselves and that’s why it took a little longer,” he said. In addition to the entire West Perth Fire Department, Chief Hunter said there was a “tremen- dous amount of resources” on scene utilizing their mutual a plan from North Perth (Mon! ton, Atwood and Lieto); sae East (Sebringville, Milverton and Shakespeare) and Seaforth in Hu- ron East. Close to 70 firefighters, with 20 fire trucks, were on scene at the height of the fire, primarily to transport water back and forth from Mitchell. A fuel truck had to attend the scene to refuel trucks during the fire, Chief Hunter added. - St. Marys Fire Department’s aerial truck was also relocated to Sebringville to provide coverage for other alarms. The Perth County OPP assist- ed with traffic control and Perth County Paramedics provided stand-by medical support for the fe) 9 ews. All firefighters were clear of the scene by 1:57 a.m. Tuesday morn- ing, July 16. Huron Perth Real Estate Association president cautions against Summer resurgence CORY SMITH Home sales in the region dropped sharply last month as the local real estate president cautioned against expecting a summer re- surgence. Buyerssnappedup163homeslast month, a drop of 14.2 percent from June 2023 and well below the five- and 10-year averages. Huron Perth Association of Realtors president Teresa Ondrejicka said the market continues to recover after bottom- ing out at the end of last summer. “New listings seem to have topped out in recent sting and are slowly edging dow haps signifying that eellote ies realized buyers are not moving as quickly off the,sidelines and back into the market/as they had hoped,” she said.;“The Bank of Canada’s rate cut in June may prompt a few more prospective home buyers to make offers, but with uncertainty surrounding the timing of further cuts we may not necessarily see a sudden resur- gence in activity over the rest of the summer.” Despite adown month, the mar- ket moved alongatnearly thesame pace as it was at'this time a year ago. There were 273 new residen- tial listings in June, one more than in June 2023 andslightly above the short- and long-term trends for the month. There were 628 active residen- tial listings on the market at the end of June, up almost 34 percent. from the same period in 2023 and the most heading into Julyinmore than five years. The benchmark price ~ the value of a “typical” home in a commu- nity, based on the most popular was $579,400, nearly unchanged percent from year-ago levels. 6.9 per cent from June 2023. Sell- ers in Huron-Perth are averaging $617,334 for their homes so far this year, aslight drop from the first six months of 2023. Months of inventory numbered 3.9 at the end of June 2024, up from 2.5 months at theendof June 2023 and above the long-run av- erage of 2.7 months for this time of year. The number of months of inventoryis the number ofmonths from. last year. B: the benchmark apartment price of $467,600 was an increase of 24 itwould - tories at the current rate of sales activity.