Fire at Penticton Toyota dealership ‘developed rapidly’ Wednesday morning

Crews have largely doused the fire that started early Wednesday morning at a Toyota dealership in Penticton.

Fire chief Larry Watkinson said the three-alarm fire started before 5 a.m. Wednesday and “developed rapidly.”

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“It was difficult for crews to access and have a hard attack on,” Watkinson said. “It got into the roof and travelled.”

While thick columns of smoke caught the attention of much of the city, Watkinson said that the fire did not expand beyond the boundaries of the Toyota building.

Penticton Fire Department was being assisted by Summerland’s fire department, Watkinson said. They left the scene at around 9 a.m. when the building appeared to be largely in mop up.

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Larry Pidperyhora, Penticton Toyota General Manager,  said firefighters were able to save our showroom and the main structure of the building.

“We are all very, our staff, our team we are honestly like a family. We are very passionate about what we do and working together so to see this is devasting for all of us,” Pidperyhora said.  “And thank God we’re a very resilient group of individuals and this community is absolutely showing some amazing support. I have had other dealer colleagues in the business already reach out to us to lend any support that they possibly can, and which I cannot stress how grateful I am for.”

There’s no information yet available on the cause and the building manager said there were no people in the building.