Blaze destroys a Melita landmark

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This article was published 24/05/2015 (4094 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A video posted by Dale Dobbyn (@daledobbyn23) on May 23, 2015 at 10:05pm PDT

The auction mart in Melita has burned to the ground.

The fire at the livestock market, Taylor Auctions, started in the front part of building on Saturday evening.

The disappointment was evident in the voice of Ross Taylor, owner of the auction mart, when reached Sunday morning.

“It’s just burnt, that’s all there is to it,” Taylor said of his livestock market, on Highway 83 about four hours southwest of Winnipeg near the Saskatchewan border.

“It totalled the building, that’s all I know so far.”

Taylor hopes his insurance coverage will provide enough means to rebuild the market. He was waiting to speak to his insurance company on Monday.

Taylor works there with seven or eight others, getting cattle ready to cross the border.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined. There were no animals or people inside the auction mart at the time of the fire and no injuries.

A neighbour about a kilometre away noticed the smoke and called emergency services. 

Melita’s deputy fire chief, Rob McCutcheon, and his crew were called to the scene at 7 p.m. Saturday and stayed there until 1 a.m. Sunday tending the flames.

McCutcheon said there wasn’t hope for the tin building, which trapped a lot of smoke and heat inside its metal walls. 

“It was more of a defensive fire. We weren’t going to save the building,” McCutcheon said. “Sadly, we had to let her burn.”

The crew decided to take a defensive attack to the blaze. That meant no one went into the structure because it was unsafe to do so. The crew contained the fire to the building, and nothing surrounding the auction mart caught fire.

The building is completely gone. The cause hasn’t been determined, but fire chief Dave Lamb doesn’t believe there’s anything suspicious.

“I think there’s an investigator on his way out to take a look… when you’re dealing with that kind of dollar I’m sure that the insurance company wants to dot their i’s and cross their t’s,” Lamb said.

Dale Dobbyn, of Melita, was spraying in a field more than a kilometre away from the auction mart when he noticed the fire. At 9:30 p.m., after he had finished spraying, he went to see what was happening and took some photos of it using his drone.

The auction mart will be a loss to the community for the foreseeable future.

“Well I know they won’t be able to have the bull sales anymore. I know the 4-H rally was supposed to be next week, I don’t know where they’re going to have it,” Dobbyn said.

Melita’s mayor, Bill Holden, said Taylor Auctions was a community staple.

“It’s been here for a long time, so it’s kind of a landmark,” Holden said. “This is kind of a blow.”

— Winnipeg Free Press / Brandon Sun