A fire that has been deemed suspicious tore through the old First World War munitions factory in Lindsay in the early hours of Wednesday (July 20).
As of about 10:30 a.m., going on 12 hours after the initial call came in, firefighters were still at the 45 James St. scene.
“We’re still fighting the fire,” a busy Kawartha Lakes Fire Chief Terry Jones told This Week, as about 30 firefighters worked in the oppressive summer heat.
“This is a huge building,” he adds, noting that about a third of the building, which was built around 1916 and used to make ammunition for the war effort and later as the Trent Rubber factory, was fully engulfed in flames when crews were called around 12:30 a.m.
In addition to the extreme heat outside, battling the fire has been a challenge for fire crews because the abandoned building was boarded up and hydrants are quite a distance away from the scene, says Jones.
“Luckily enough this was mainly an exterior attack, so a bit easier than having to get packed up and go inside.”
The Ontario Fire Marshal has been called in to help with the investigation, says Jones.
“It is probably suspicious in nature at this time.”
According to the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 67 in Lindsay, with research provided by the Olde Gaol Museum, Lindsay was selected as the site for one of the 600 munitions factories to be built in Canada; and in 1916 the cornerstone was laid at the James Street property. This was made possible by the efforts of Sir Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia and Defence, the namesake of the Lindsay Legion branch.
“By the summer of 1917 the ‘Dominion Arsenal’ was in full swing; 260 women from Lindsay and surrounding areas engaged in the very dangerous and precise manufacture of cartridges – case, cap-and-bullet – until the end of the War,” reads information posted on the legion website. “Following the armistice, by spring 1919 nearly all of these ‘munitionettes’ were laid off and the factory sat quiet.”
Twenty years later the factory was back in action once again producing armaments for the Second World War.
“In 1969 the site was sold to a private company – Trent Rubber – which finally closed in 2005,” reads the Legion website.
