NEWS PHOTO PEGGY REVELL
Medicine Hat firefighters continue to investigate on Thursday, May 24, 2018, a fire that occurred at Deadbolt Construction Inc./Bamboo Innovations the day before. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, with fire service saying the building will have to be torn down.
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Medicine Hat Fire Service’s investigation into the cause of a Wednesday evening fire that destroyed Deadbolt Construction Inc./Bamboo Innovations continued into Thursday.
“The extent of the damage is to where the building will be torn down,” said platoon chief Doug Lagran, speaking midday while on scene at 18th Street SW site in the light industrial area of the city.
As it’s not safe to go inside the building, Lagran explained that the fire inspector has been conducting the investigation by looking down from above, while fellow fire service members were ready pour water down if and when hot spots are detected.
“We don’t want any flare ups,” said Lagran.
As the building is too dangerous to enter, Lagran said they are waiting on the insurance company to confirm it can be torn down — once the tearing down starts, they can go inside and pinpoint the fire’s cause.
“It’s overwhelming,” said JoDana Tokamp, who with Dustin Tizzard are owners of the two companies. They were waiting Thursday at the scene to hear further news from the investigators, and hoping to at least retrieve paperwork from inside the building so they can get in contact with customers.
“It’s brought our whole business to a stand still,” said Tokamp, as this is a busy time of the year.
“We’re super grateful,” she added. “So many people have reached out.”
And she wanted to assure people that the dogs who are often at the business with them are OK as well.
The pair have owned the companies for 10 years, but had been at this location for the past two.
The fire started at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday evening with firefighters getting the blaze under control by 9:30 p.m.
All fire stations responded, said Lagran, with 16 to 17 on scene who were swapped out as time went on. Overtime firefighters came in to stand at the station in case other calls came in.
The business and surrounding businesses are all standalone buildings, said Lagran, so aside from possible smoke damage, neighbouring businesses appear to have no damage.
