Good news emerges after a fire at a cheese factory in St. Albert, Ontario over a week ago — the $3 million worth of cheese inside the warehouse (and the warehouse itself) are safe! At first the sacred cheese was thought to be gone with the rest of the St. Albert Cheese Co-op factory to an untimely scorched and smoldering death, but thanks to the warehouse’s firewalls the aged cheese lives on. The heroes in this tale, the fireproof walls, were installed during warehouse additions and were initially opposed to by project manager Réjean Ouimet; now he’s grateful for what he once saw as a useless extra expense.

“I didn’t believe in that in 2002 when we make that firewall, but now I believe in it,” Ouimet said with a laugh and sigh of relief.

Ouimet also has Canadian cold weather to thank for the cheese’s well-being in keeping the warehouse at freezing temperatures, since the space is typically refrigerated. Of course the product will still have to be inspected by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, but with most to be salvaged and sold you can look forward to a future with some very lucky cheese in your fridge.

As if saved cheese isn’t enough good news for one day, most St. Albert residents were able to drink their tap water again on Monday for the first time since the fire. Ammonia and other chemicals from the factory were worried to have reached the town’s water supply, so several homes were warned not to drink the water, though it could still be used for other household activities. Bottled-water was being delivered to the affected residences by officials, but now all is well and best of all: the cheese is safe!

[via CBC News]