Fire crews were continuing to put out the last of the fire embers under the roof Friday morning. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Emergency services

Firefighters work all night putting out auto-body shop fire

Mar 8, 2024 | 11:27 AM

The North Battleford fire department with assistance from the Town of Battleford and the RM of North Battleford fire departments were out all night last night quelling a fully-involved fire at an auto body shop Thursday.

The structural fire was located at Quickfalls Collision Centre at 832-104 Street.

The majority of the building was destroyed with only the frontage remaining.

No injuries were reported. There were two individuals inside the building at the time of the fire, but they were able to escape safely and call 911.

North Battleford Deputy Fire Chief Paul Perry said the fire dept. responded quickly after receiving a call at 5:31 p.m. Thursday. Crews were still on the scene Friday morning putting out remaining hot spots.

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“It was a three-alarm fire,” he said. “We had mutual aid from the Town of Battleford and the RM of North Battleford also assisted in our suppression. We weren’t able to save the building. Our priority when we arrived on scene was to save the surrounding buildings and, with that said, we did save the News Optimist [located next door].”

Perry noted he appreciated the efforts of all his crew as well as the Town and RM firefighters for their support, adding that the mutual aid assistance “really came in helpful last night.”

“I was pretty happy with how all the firefighters performed,” he added.

A view of what’s left of the building Friday. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

The firefighters put out the majority of the fire at about 3 a.m. this morning.

The blaze started in the south-east side of the building, and the back of the building quickly caught on fire as the flames spread.

“The roof collapsed, so we tried to save what we could, but it was just too much,” Perry said.

The fire was too involved for any firefighters to be able to go inside the building safely.

“I saw right off the bat [the situation], [and] I wasn’t putting anybody’s lives in jeopardy,” Perry said.

He noted that as an auto-body repair shop there was flammable gasoline, oil, and paint inside, “a mixed bag of hydrocarbons,” adding to the firefighters work to put out the fire.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @battlefordsnow