Nearly 70 firefighters were at the scene of a massive blaze at a rutabaga processing plant just north of Mitchell on Monday afternoon.
Firefighters arrived after a call at 3:39 p.m. to the Stover-Siemon facility, at 6115 Line 39 in West Perth.
Bill Hunter, manager of fire services/fire chief for Perth East, said firefighters made an aggressive interior attack but were forced back outside due to smoke and fire conditions.
Portions of the building collapsed due to the fire damage and the fire chief says the building was a total loss.
Damages are expected to exceed $2.5 million.
Hunter says crews brought in heavy equipment to remove steel to allow firefighters access to fully extinguish the blaze.
Crews from North Perth FD (Monkton, Atwood, Listowel); Perth East FD (Sebringville, Milverton, Shakespeare) and Huron East FD (Seaforth), helped a full compliment West Perth FD, at one point, Hunter said.
Twenty fire trucks were on the scene at the height of the fire and a fuel truck attended to refuel trucks during the fire.
The fire is not considered suspicious but the investigation is ongoing.
No injuries were reported.
Firefighters were clear of the scene by 1:57 a.m. Wednesday morning.
