A year after fire, Vienna Farms “back to normal”

A massive fire on March 20-21, 2018 destroyed the apple storage facility at Martin’s Family Fruit Farms Vienna operation. But less than a year later, “things are back to normal,” said Vienna Farms Manager Ken Martin in late February.

A new building replaced the demolished one in fall of last year, and apples are shipping out on a regular basis. Martin’s Family Fruit Farm, a Waterloo-based company, grows most of its apples around the Vienna area.

Bayham Fire Chief Randy White last year told the Aylmer Express about 45 firefighters from Bayham, Malahide, Norfolk and Aylmer fought a blaze that was first reported at 8:40 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20. Damage at the time was reported at an estimated $3-million in lost equipment, apples, storage bins and the building itself.

Read more about the rapid rebuild and plenty more in agricultural news in the 36-page Aylmer Express Farm Edition – in stores as part of the March 6 publication.

Pictured above is the landscape at Martin’s last March, and below the new facility (under a year later).