Vermilion Bay’s Village Corner lost to blaze

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Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of a large structure fire that destroyed a thriving Vermilion Bay business Sept. 6.

Machin Fire Service was dispatched shortly after a 911 call alerted officials to a fire at The Village Corner, a gas station and restaurant at the corner of Hwys. 17 and 105, at 5:40 a.m.

Arriving on scene shortly thereafter, the Machin Fire Chief and incident commander reported a large two-storey structure fire with fire visible in the main floor gas station area. The mutual aid of both Dryden and Wabigoon Fire Services was requested.

After six hours of dangerous and intense firefighting with approximately 50 firefighters on scene — the Machin incident commander declared the fire under control.

Dryden deputy fire chief Ken Kurz says no one was injured in the blaze which proved difficult for firefighters to extinguish.

“You got an unknown about people being in the building, so searches were done very quickly in areas where they could,” said Kurz. “Then getting at the fire was a major problem between the levels of roofs on there and the additions put on the building over the years. It was very stubborn and very difficult.”

Heavy equipment was used to remove the roof and walls to extinguish hidden fire in the layers of roofs.

The bulk of Machin Fire units and crew remained on scene until 6 pm.

A Machin Fire unit and crew remained on scene all night for fire watch and to extinguish occurring spot fires. The Machin Fire Chief, and the Office of the Fire Marshal are investigating the cause of this fire.

- Chris Marchand

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