Extraction day at little butcher shop of horrors

Local companies are working in concert to alleviate the awful conditions inside the former Bavarian Meats.

A plan to freeze and dispose of the meat left behind since last fall when the Wallace Road butcher shop was shuttered ran into some obstacles on the electrical side and a Winmar remediation crew clad in Hazmat suits has instead been loading the rancid meat onto carts and rolling it across makeshift ramps into large bins at the rear of the property since Monday morning.

Winmar's project manager says "there is a lot of meat in there," and adds it has been a true team effort in cleaning up such a mess. From his own crew donning the suits to remove the offending products, to local electricians A.G. Electric and Luc Charles Electrical, to Good Riddance Pest Control, and Miller Waste, the entire process is running smoothly.

It has taken weeks to get to this point and a stench has been emanating from the former butcher shop, growing worse with each hot summer's day.  

See related: More than 'meats' the eye at shuttered, festering butcher shop

Various organizations have been debating who will clean up the mess left behind when the business hit hard times last year. After concerns from the neighbourhood were brought to the attention of Coun. Bill Vrebosch, he and Deputy Mayor Tanya Vrebosch have been pushing for accountability from the numbered company that controls the property and this sort of resolution for neighbours.

Winmar expects to get most of the rancid meat out of the building Monday and, combined with the fumigation of the insects, neighbours should be able to resume their normal lives soon, perhaps ahead of the four-day window Winmar reps quoted.

See also: Crew dons Hazmat suits to enter Bavarian Meats

"It's a bad situation," says the experienced project manager, "but it's what we do. I've never seen anything quite like this."

He was hesitant to say whether the building can be saved and preferred to leave it to the company footing the bill for the clean-up to speak on and would not comment on the cost of the project.

"We are doing everything to salvage the building, on their request," he states. "There is a lot of work that needs to be done," as far as the inside of the building, he confirms, "and we'll do a walk-through once the meat is gone to determine those things."

The project will be completed in phases. "The first phase is to just get rid of the rancid meat," says the project manager, "so the flies are stopped and the smell is stopped and the residents and businesses can move forward without having to worry about smelling this."