This page was exported from Shelburne Free Press [ https://shelburnefreepress.ca ] Export date:Tue Jul 23 9:17:49 2024 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: Hills Agra Machinery lost to fire --------------------------------------------------- After more than 50 years in the community, Hills Agra Machinery, north of Shelburne near Horning's Mills, was lost to fire on June 30th. Fire and rescue trucks were called to the establishment around 11 am after a fire broke out in a piece of equipment and spread quickly throughout the building. Owner Jim Hill said there was no chance to get anything out and that all computers, drawings, designs and records were lost. Jim Hill spoke to the Free Press this week and reports that on the morning of June 30th workers were preparing a prototype of a machine to separate the fibres from hemp plants. The prototype had been test run with hemp, and when a worker saw a shield which needed sanding, a spark set off the hemp and the machine was quickly engulfed in flames. Mr. Hill said they had worked with hemp for years and had never known it to be so volatile. Despite emptying three fire extinguishers they could not control the fire and flames spread quickly to the steel ceiling. “As soon as we saw we couldn't hold it we called 911,” said Hill, but within 15 minutes the buildings, encompassing 8500 square feet, were on fire. “Ninety percent of everything in the building is steel,” said Hill, “I never thought it could go up.” Jim Hill's father, Oscar Hill, now 94 years old and living in Dufferin Oaks' retirement home in Shelburne, brought the family to the community 64 years ago when he bought the local blacksmith shop. Jim was seven years old at the time, and learned to turn the forge and keep the bucket filled with water for cooling. In 1969, he bought out the family business and four years later build a big expansion to build farm equipment. The company provided both manufacturing and maintenance to western Ontario farmers, building custom equipment, rebuilding and repairing equipment from other companies, and producing parts to solve production problems. The company went from design to a functioning system in house. Hills Agra currently has five employees and equipment running in 30 different countries, including the Middle East, Africa, South America, and Europe. The company built harvesting machines for companies like Hostess and conveyers and custom machines for local companies like KTH in Shelburne. John and Joan Lever, who own a neighbouring property to Hill's Agra, noticed black smoke billowing, and we went to the site before it was blocked off. The Levers said a small crowd observed the fire from across the road, and that a police officer made sure people stayed well back. Mrs. Lever reported “loud bangs that sounded like gun shots.” According to Mr. Hill, the heat was so intense that no one could get close enough to shut off natural gas lines until after 4pm. Fire and rescue came quickly from Shelburne, Honeywood, Rosemount, Dundalk, and Orangeville. “The volunteer fire department and OPP all did a marvellous job,” said Hill, “they worked so hard to save my house. Two good things came out of this; nobody got hurt and I still have a roof over my head.” “It is a real tragedy for everyone involved,” said Hill. “This is my home and I want to stay. I hope to rebuild and stay in the area, but at this stage we don't know what to say.” Hill estimates the loss to be approximately 3.5 million dollars. There was no insurance. By Marni Walsh --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2014-07-10 08:41:41 Post date GMT: 2014-07-10 12:41:41 Post modified date: 2014-07-16 17:39:11 Post modified date GMT: 2014-07-16 21:39:11 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com