Cause of fire at St. Catharines winery will remain ‘unknown’

The damage to the Hernder Estates Winery in St. Catharines over the weekend was so extensive that the Ontario Fire Marshall’s office has begged off investigating, saying the cause would be to hard to determine.

Subsequently, the St. Catharines Fire Department has followed suit and has said the cause of the $7 million blaze will remain “unknown,” adding that the fire doesn’t seem suspicious in any way.

The banquet hall and retail store of the winery were completely destroyed in the fire that started Saturday night (March 26) at approximately 10 pm.

The St. Catharines Fire Department sent numerous photos from the blaze to the Ontario Fire Marshall before the provincial group made their too-hard-to-determine call.

However, also caught in the fire were the products from the Mom Market Collective, who had been using the banquet hall for an event to sell their products. Some 34 vendors were at the market, all of whom lose their goods in the fire.

A Go Fund Me was created for the group to help recoup their losses and has hit $40,000 out its $50,000 goal in just over two days.

In the spirit of good neigbours, nearby Rockway Winery – the only winery-golf course in all of Niagara – will be donated their banquet space for free to the group for the next Mom Market Collective in May.

Because the rural winery, a popular place to host weddings in Niagara, is not on the municipal system – hence no fire hydrants in the area – water tankers had to be brought in to douse the flame, which completely enveloped the winery’s banquet hall.

Rockway Winery-Golf Course will be loaning their banquet facilities space
to the next Mom Market Collective in May for free to help vendors recoup
their losses.