An early morning blaze on Christmas Eve left one homeowner picking up the pieces of his home-based business after flames ripped through a shop at the north end of Whissellville.
The town fire department responded at 12:40 a.m. on Dec. 24 to the property at 11128 100A Ave. after reports of a structure fire.
“The fire was cooking pretty good when crews responded on scene so there was a lot of damage and of course, the investigation is going to take a little bit of time here,” said fire chief Stuart Koflick.
“Arriving on scene, we chose to go on a defensive attack and just confine it to the structure of origin, versus an interior attack where you’re placing crews inside the building,” he said, adding the building was not structurally sound for an interior attack.
There were 10 firefighters battling the blaze for four to five hours, Koflick said, adding they were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the nearby residence.
“They managed to limit the extent of the fire and confine it to the shop,” he said. “The shop itself was a complete loss. There was a vehicle inside the shop as well as a lot of stock.”
He said the shop was used for a home-based heating and plumbing business and a significant amount of stock was destroyed. A small portion of the structure is, however, still standing to the north side.
As a precaution, the residences to the east and west of the property were evacuated until it was determined to be safe for them to return. Both EMS and RCMP were on scene, although no injuries were reported.
Later in the day, fire crews returned to the property to put out hot spots.
“It’s sometimes difficult to get every little hot spot, especially when you have limited visibility,” Koflick said. “Things do fester and that’s what we were faced with.”
The investigation is still ongoing and the cause of the fire has yet to be determined.
Koflick encouraged anyone with information to contact himself at 780-350-2114 or Westlock RCMP at 780-349-4492.
“I’m not indicating that this is suspicious at this time, but certainly, any sort of piece to the puzzle that we can place will certainly help us out.”
