Family Flowers fire sends two firefighters to hospital

A fire at Family Flowers east of St. Thomas on Friday afternoon, July 22 resulted in two Central Elgin volunteer firefighters being taken to St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital by ambulance as a precaution as they were showing symptoms of heat exhaustion. “They will be fine,” Acting Central Elgin Fire Chief Murray Decorte said. While no cause or damage estimate was immediately available, Chief Decorte said the fire started when a pile of straw bales “ignited” on the northeast side of the Family Flowers nursery and greenhouse operation. The fire caused some damage to the wooden structural beams on the northeast side of the building and to the adjacent greenhouse. The fire call was received at 3:57 p.m. and Chief Decorte estimated the first firefighters from the nearby Yarmouth Centre station were there within three minutes and the fire was extinguished in about 25 minutes. Family Flowers owner Annette Weesjes said no one was at the business when the fire started as all employees were sent home early at about 1:30 p.m. due to the extreme heat and humidity. She was glad all of her employees and animals at the business were safe and expressed her thanks to the firefighters for their efforts on a hot and humid day.