Blaze leaves path of destruction at Manitoba Hutterite colony

BRANDON — Fire tore through a vehicle storage unit at Green Acres Hutterite Colony near Wawanesa on Thursday, destroying four vehicles, a bus and a forklift.

“Gasoline tanks started exploding, vehicles started exploding,” Larry Hofer, the minister and president of the colony, told the Brandon Sun.

Two area fire departments fought the blaze, which started around 11 a.m., and community members rushed in with their water tanks to make sure the firefighters had enough water to keep the fire down, Hofer said.

“That was phenomenal,” he said.

The affected building is split into several units, he said, but the fire was contained to a single section that housed vehicles, tires, oil, gasoline and diesel fuel.

When the fire started, one man went inside the building to save the fire truck. He drove it out to safety, but inhaled smoke in the process.

While Hofer didn’t know the cause of the fire, he said it spread immediately and he described seeing pitch-black smoke rising from the large building.

Hofer said he spent almost the whole day at the fire, but there wasn’t much for community members to do other than keep the public back and give the firefighters food and water.

“We’re just so fortunate that nobody got hurt…” Hofer said. “The firefighters did an immensely good job at containing it.

Mike Simpson, the deputy fire chief for the Oakland-Wawanesa Fire Department, said they were alerted to the fire at around 11:15 a.m.

He said it was fortunate six to eight members of the department were already on the colony, as they instantly started attacking the blaze with a fire truck.

“It was within minutes they had water on the building to keep it from spreading,” Simpson said.

He said a wall separating the portion of the building with the vehicles inside stopped the fire from spreading to the other sections of the building.

However, the vehicle storage area, which he guessed was roughly 80 feet by 80 feet, was a total loss, and the adjoining section sustained smoke damage.

Simpson said the department was not yet certain how the fire started.

At least 15 firefighters from the Oakland-Wawanesa Fire Department responded, with roughly another eight from the Souris Fire Department.

Firefighters contained the fire by around 1:30 p.m. and cleared the scene at around 4 p.m., Simpson said.

Hofer said the fire was devastating, and over the next day or two, the focus will be on making sure there’s no recurrence.

Then, he said, the colony will have to go through the insurance process.

“It’s back to reset, start all over again, plan a new building,” he said. “The building is not repairable.”

— Brandon Sun