When JP’s Petro and General Store owner Barin Beresford arrived at work in the early hours of the morning on May 3rd, he was shocked to find what he initially thought was rainwater flooding the parking and flowing across the road.
Barin’s wife, Vicky, says it didn’t take her husband long to realize the liquid was not water, but gasoline.
“He opened up his truck door and gas was just flowing out of our filling station,” said Vicky. “It was coming out litres and litres at a time.”
Barin quickly shut the filling station valve off and called 9-1-1 as he walked across the parking lot to see which direction the spill was flowing. Vicky says they found the thieves had originally tried to syphon gas out of six large tanks next to the store and were unsuccessful in their attempt.
“They went around to the filling station and jammed a hose into it, opened up all the valves and just let it flow,” said Vicky.
The damage caused by the event cost hundreds of thousands in clean up and repairs. Though the Beresford’s insurance took care of the cost of damage to their property, it will not cover the extensive damage done to the land across the street, which belongs to the municipal district.
Though an exact number hasn’t been provided yet, the final cost of remediation could result in the Beresford’s losing their store, which has been in the family for decades.
“It’ll be 17 years as of June 1st,” Vicky and Barin said, almost in unison.
Losing the store also means Granum would lose its only source of fuel, with the nearest gas station approximately 20 kilometres away.
Despite the extensive damage, the Beresfords are grateful no one was hurt during the incident.
“We’re very lucky,” said Barin. “We’re very fortunate in all this, as tragic and hard as this is, but it could have been a hundred times worse.”
In light of the incident, a group of community members have rallied together to organize a fundraising event in support of the Beresfords.
On July 1st, the Granum and District Canada Day Society will host a benefit auction with all proceeds going towards the cost of damage and repairs from the incident.
Roy Penniket, auction coordinator for the event, says the Beresfords and their store are vital to Granum.
“We are behind them. We need them.”
The Beresfords say they don’t have words to express how grateful they are for the community’s support.
“It’s overwhelming, all the support,” said Barin, emotionally.
The auction will begin at 3 p.m. at the Homesteader, located at 406 Aberdeen Street in Granum, and all members of the public are invited to attend.
Cash donations or inquiries on how to donate items to the auction can be emailed to friendsofjps2024@gmail.com, and a GoFundMe for the Beresfords can be found here.
The attempted robbery is still under investigation, and anyone with information on the event is asked to contact Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.