An early morning fire has destroyed the main shop buildings at Vandermarel Trucking on Dickson Drive in Fergus. The family-owned business has been a part of the community for more than 24 years. The family say come Monday they’ll do everything they can to move forward.
Dozens of firefighters from across Wellington County including Arthur, Guelph-Eramosa and the City of Guelph worked for hours.
The smoke at Vandermarel Trucking was so thick and the flames so stubborn none of the buildings could be saved.
Officials say the call came in around 9 a.m. Saturday.
The smoke was so heavy it could be seen from several kilometres away.
“We suspect when we came in that the heaviest amount of smoke was at the rear of the maintenance area.” Centre Wellington Fire Chief Brad Patton says.
As a small business owner, Mary Vandermarel says getting this kind of news was overwhelming.
“This is a big part of our lives and a big part of what we do. We aren’t sure of where to go. There is just so much to think off.”
The fire chief says it’s too early to determine a cause but they’re hoping surveillance video stored on company hard drives will help them figure out how it happened.
“We were able to remove from the building all of the computer hard drives with important documentation so that the company can get back to business as quickly as possible.” Patton says.
Vandermarel says it’s a good thing her husband, a truck driver, is in Colorado on a run. “The next few days are going to be really, really hard and we are going to pull together and try to make it work.”
Paramedics from Guelph-Wellington EMS remained on scene the entire day.
Officials tell CTV News that no one was injured.
Police are asking anyone with information regarding the fire to contact Wellington County OPP at 1-888-310-1122.
