A machinery business north of Shelburne has been destroyed by fire.

Four different fire crews responded to the call today. About 35 fire fighters were on scene. People who saw it say it all happened so quickly. Tonight there isn't much left of the business.

Smoke billowed into the air and could be seen for kilometres this afternoon in Hornings Mills. 

“All you saw was just smoke,” says one person who witnessed it. “There's like smoke everywhere and then we hear people screaming and running over and we're like what's happening?”

That witness describes “huge flames covering everything” with smoke clouds rising into the air.

It was a machine shop that went up in flames and became fully-engulfed within minutes.

“We could see right inside the shop and the fire was going up right in the middle of the shop and the guys started running out, yelling ‘fire’” says another witness. “They started moving tractors and equipment…”

The business was a fixture in the community and had been around for over 50 years. Jim Hill inherited the shop from his father.

“This is a loss,” he says. “I don't know how we'll ever recover from (it).”

The business built farm equipment and repaired machines. Employees were repairing a machine today when the fire broke out.

‘We went to make a significant modification to a machine,” he says. “We just got started up –  a new model we got here last week. A couple of sparks got into a bale of hemp and before we knew it we'd emptied three of our fire extinguishers into it and like a nightmare it just kept going, going, going.”

Nearby homes had to be evacuated and many streets were closed down. No one was hurt in the fire, and all employees managed to get out safely. The business couldn't be saved, however, so fire crews focused on saving the houses around it.

“My concerns were the house to the south of the fire and the house in the background,” says Shelburne Deputy Fire Chief Ed Walsh. “I wanted to protect them. The shop that burned was already lost. There was no saving it.”

The other concern was the natural gas line. Crews had to wait for Enbridge to turn off the gas before they could finish putting the fire out. But it was clear there wasn’t much left.

“It hasn't all sunk in yet but at the same time I don't know,” says Hill. “You have to have a lot of faith when something like this hits you.”

The fire isn't being treated as suspicious. The Ontario Fire Marshal’s office has been notified, and local crews say they plan to touch base with them in the morning.