The major crimes division of the Sûreté du Québec was tasked with investigating the fire that ravaged the former shrimp processing plant Les Fruits de l’Est, in Matane, on Friday, less than two weeks after it broke out. permanent closure. No injuries were reported, but the building, for which local authorities still hoped to find a buyer, was a total loss.
” Two bad luck in the same factory in the space of ten days, it’s really overwhelming,” says the mayor of Matane, Eddy Métivier.
Early Saturday morning, Matane firefighters were still on the scene of the blaze to ensure that it was truly extinguished.
Some 120 residents of an area evacuated overnight due to risks related to the potential explosion of a tank of ammonia, a substance used for refrigeration, were finally able to return to their homes around 5:30 a.m. this morning, indicates the mayor.
Government inspectors “took readings of the ammonia and it was all gone, there was nothing left,” he confirmed. “We did well to start the evacuation yesterday, around 8 p.m., for fear that the tank would end up leaking because it leaked when the roof, everything, burned. »
The building is a total loss, he said.
The SQ in charge of the investigation
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) confirmed that it had been entrusted with the investigation into the causes of the fire “following obtaining certain information” and had transferred it to its major crimes division. Crime scene technicians will be on site during the week.
This does not necessarily mean that a criminal act has been committed, indicates a spokesperson for the police force, Stéphane Tremblay, who explains that “certain legal steps in the search for causes” must be completed.
Regardless of the cause of the fire at the Les Fruits de mer de l’Est factory, waking up was difficult in Matane on Saturday morning, since local authorities were still hoping to find a buyer for the factory strategically located in the area. industrial-port of Matane, where significant investments are planned.
The MP for Matane-Matapédia, Pascal Bérubé, says he had a discussion as recently as this week with a manager of the Danish company that owns the factory, Royal Greenland, to let him know that he was ready to transfer all request for interest which would be notified to him.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The member for Matane-Matapédia, Pascal Bérubé
“I told them that if I had any requests for interest, I was ready to transfer it to them and I was told that we were open,” he explained while refusing to give more details on the content of the exchanges.
“We are moving from an available factory to an available site at the port of Matane, where there will be significant investments, and even some already underway, of tens of millions of dollars,” he added, refusing to be let it fall.
“It’s a second hard blow to a symbol of Matane’s identity,” he admits, however.
The closure, a “total surprise”
On March 18, Royal Greenland announced that it was closing down what was the oldest shrimp processing factory still in operation in the province.
The fall in the Nordic shrimp fishing quota, labor shortages and low prices in the seafood market were among the reasons given by the company, 100% of which is owned by the Greenlandic government .
The mayor of Matane, Eddy Métivier, spoke of “a total surprise” when the Danish company had recently invested millions to add lobster and crab processing to its activities, in addition to building 71 housing units for its temporary workers.
The closure caused 55 employees to lose their jobs as well as at least 104 temporary foreign workers.