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Two trailers destroyed during Sunday fire in Agassiz

The fire completely destroyed two trailers, and melted tarps several spots away
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Two trailers were destroyed during a fire at Pathfinder Motel and RV Park Sunday afternoon. (Grace Kennedy/The Observer)

Two trailers in an Agassiz RV park have been reduced to charcoal after a fire Sunday afternoon (March 10).

The Agassiz Fire Department was called Sunday at the Pathfinder Motel and RV Park, located off Highway 7.

Dennis St. Jean, owner of one of the two trailers, wasn’t home at the time of the fire. He got a call from a neighbour about half an hour after he left for Harrison Hot Springs that his trailer was on fire.

The fire completely destroyed St. Jean’s trailer and the shop he had built behind it, as well as all of his possessions.

“It melted my drag boat over there,” St. Jean said. “A fibreglass boat, it even melted the engine.”

The fire also destroyed the majority of the neighbouring trailer, and melted the tarps on trailers several spots away.

Four crews from the Agassiz Fire Department were called to the scene, as well as two from Popkum to bring water to the area, as it’s not serviced by fire hydrants. The department started with a defensive approach to the fire, and later moved into the buildings to fully extinguish the fires. It was completely out in around half an hour, although crews dealt with a few spot fires on Lougheed Highway coming from the blaze.

The fire fighting was complicated by several large propane tanks, including one 100-pound tank that exploded during the fire. Concerned residents took to Facebook to try and discover what the noise was after that tank exploded.

St. Jean said he believed the blaze likely started with his refrigerator, but fire chief Gerald Basten said it was too early to tell what exactly caused the fire. The department will continue to investigate the cause, he said.

For now, St. Jean will be staying with a friend until he can clear his former trailer from the site and begin fresh.

“I’m a survivalist, I can handle it,” he said.

“I’m more worried about them two,” he added, speaking about the two people living in the trailer next to him, which was also destroyed. “Me, I’ll pick up the pieces.”

He planned to help them find a place to stay, and make sure they had dinner that night.

Sunday’s fire at the RV park comes after an unrelated blaze at an unoccupied house on the Cheam First Nation early Saturday morning.

The Agassiz Fire Department was called out to that home, located on Bridge Road near Whelpton Road, around 12:45 a.m. Saturday morning after passerby on the highway noticed the fire. The house was fully engulfed by the time crews arrived.

As there were no services in the building, Basten said the fire was likely caused by someone or something entering the home. He doesn’t know if it was intentional or not, and the department is still investigating.



grace.kennedy@ahobserver.com

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Dennis St. Jean’s boat, which was destroyed during a fire at Pathfinder Motel and RV Park Sunday (March 10). (Grace Kennedy/The Observer)
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The inside of one of the trailers at Pathfinder Motel and RV Park, which was destroyed during a fire Sunday (March 10). (Grace Kennedy/The Observer)