Fire crews were called out to a huge fire at IKO Industries in the city's southeast on Tuesday morning and used all the tools at their disposal to attack the three alarm blaze from all sides.
Thick, black smoke and flames were shooting out of the roof at the roofing tile manufacturing company located at 1600 42 Ave. S.E. when fire crews arrived.
The fire broke out shortly before 11:00 a.m. and crews quickly called a third alarm and brought in aerial trucks, haz mat crews and pump trucks to fight the flames.
Calgary police blocked off several roads in the area to help emergency crews access the scene.
15A Street and part of 42 Avenue SE remain closed, but Ogden Road reopened at about 4:30 p.m.
The fire department says that no one was injured in the fire and it is now considered to be under control.
Carol Henke, public information officer with the Calgary Fire Department, says that it was a very quick response to the fire.
"Our fire crews got here very quickly, headquarters is just over there, so they made it here very quickly. When they arrived, right from the fire station, they could see thick black plumes of smoke and flames. What they're doing right now is keeping it from spreading to other exposures and limiting the damage."
Aaron Robinson, who works in the area, said it was surprising to see the plant on fire.
"I just saw a great, big, billow of black smoke and I came over in this direction," he said.
Robinson's wife also works in the area, so he was immediately concerned when he initially spotted the fire from Stoney Trail. "I have not spoken with her yet, she's on driver training."
He says that he has never seen anything like that before. "It's something else, an old building going up. There's lots of flammables in there."
The fire department say that the alarms in the plant worked the way they should and as far as they know, everyone was able to get out safely.
A CFD Hazardous Materials team conducted air quality monitoring and say no air quality issues were detected.
More than 60 employees were evacuated from IKO and surrounding businesses.
"We do have a fire investigator on scene who will be speaking to all the different people who work there, especially the person who called in the fire, and that is going to be ongoing. Unfortunately, right now, it's not safe to go in and start looking around in the area and that can't be done until all the hot spots are out," said Henke.
Fire officials say some parts of the building have collapsed from the fire and crews will remain at the scene to monitor hot spots through the night.
