A pile of rubble and smoke is all that is left of a large community machine shop on a Manitoba Hutterite Colony.
The fire broke out around 3:30 a.m. Monday but it wasn’t until 5 a.m. that a community member leaving for Winnipeg spotted the blaze.
It was started by a lightning strike which also caused a failure with the alarm system.
“So that’s part of the reason why we didn’t know about it sooner,” Mark Waldner, principal of the Decker Colony School said.
By then the fire was already burning out-of-control.
“It was like a sunrise, a dramatic sunrise,” Waldner said.
The shop contained several pieces of machinery, including the colony’s fire truck.
They managed to get the truck out and quickly started using it to fight the fire, but residents say it was ultimately too late.
Several area fire departments, including the Rural Municipality of Miniota, Birtle and Shoal Lake, Hamiota helped keep the blaze from spreading to neighboring buildings.
At least one semi and five trucks, highway tractor, as well as a number of pieces of farm equipment were lost in the fire.
A small portion on the east end, used as a farm mechanic shop was saved.
“In that sense we are lucky,” Waldner said. “Everybody is okay, nobody got hurt, and nobody was in the shop at the time.”
Waldner said they have insurance but he doesn’t believe it will come close to covering all that was lost.
“That’s going to take us awhile to recover, but that’s the way it is,” Waldner said. “Ultimately we will fine.”
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