Seafood Factory Destroyed by Fire in Nova Scotia

A critically injured casualty of a fire that destroyed a lobster factory Saturday morning in southern Nova Scotia has been named as a “person of interest” by police in a related arson investigation, the newspaper La Presse reports.

At about midnight, responders with the Eel Brook Fire Department arrived at the factory to find flames advanced to the point that entering the building was impossible. Fire operations were mainly defensive, protecting surrounding exposures from the flames.

The factory was closed between shifts at the time of the fire. Eighty to 100 firefighters from eight communities fought the blaze for nearly four hours.

A spokesperson for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told La Presse that the fire is under investigation as being of a suspicious nature.

The factory has been a source of controversy in an ongoing dispute between native First Nations fishermen and outside commercial fishermen. Two other locations where First Nations fisherman store their catch have recently burned.