‘Building collapsed’: Lloyoll Prefabs plant destroyed in overnight fire

CITYnews halifax / By Dan Ahlstrand and Mark Hodgins

A significant fire overnight has devastated a modular home manufacturing plant on the South Shore.

Volunteer firefighters and departments from around the Liverpool area responded to a large fire just before 1 a.m. Thursday at the Lloyoll Prefabs manufacturing building in Brooklyn, N.S.

In an interview with CityNews Halifax, Lloyoll president Jonathan Lloy said the roof of the building collapsed during the fire.

“It was a steel frame building, 20,000 square feet, so we had steel beams spanning the entire distance, and I think the heat changed the composition of the beams and the shape of them,” Lloy said. “The building just kind of collapsed in on itself. There was a lot of heat in there last night.”

Lloy said he was still learning more and gathering information, but confirmed no one was hurt in the fire.

The RCMP closed down a stretch of Highway 3 in Brooklyn as crews fought the large fire. That roadway reopened around noon Thursday.

Lloy said his company had been at the location since 2015, building ready-to-live modular housing that it was shipping as far away as the Midwest U.S.

“We’d really hit our stride,” Lloy said. “This was our best year for production, and our best year for sales that we’ve ever had; the forecasts were stronger than they’ve ever been.”

Despite the setback, Lloy said the company has “gotten good at modular” and is planning to pivot to a contingency plan to get back up and running as soon as possible.

“This is a break in our stride, this isn’t a stop,” he said.

There was no word on the cause of the fire as of Thursday afternoon.