A shop went up in flames Tuesday evening near Grunthal.
Hanover Fire Chief Paul Wiebe says their crews were dispatched shortly after 6 pm to a structure fire, along Road 29E, two miles east of Grunthal.
"Our crews arrived, they found a shop, approximately 30 by 50 (foot) shop that was fully involved," says Wiebe. "It had been burning for a while, by our assessment."
He notes that within about an hour, crews had the fire under control and extinguished. Wiebe says they then worked the scene for another hour to put out any hot spots. Crews cleared the scene shortly after 8 pm.
Wiebe says the shop and all of its contents will be a total loss. Damage is estimated at $200,000. Wiebe says there was a significant number of contents inside.
He adds the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
According to Wiebe, there were no injuries. He says family members were home at the time of the fire, but nobody was inside the shop at the time.
Wiebe adds the fire was contained to the shop. He says they brought in their wildland equipment to prevent the fire from spreading to the grass and surrounding buildings.
Meanwhile, Wiebe says this was the second structure fire in two days for his crews. On Sunday at around 12:30 pm, the Hanover Fire Department was dispatched to a shop fire south of Niverville. Wiebe says the fire involved a couple of propane tanks, and though there was a significant amount of damage, Wiebe says they were able to save the shop. He says damage is estimated at $40,000 to $50,000.
According to Wiebe, Sunday's blaze may have been the result of an intentional fire set earlier in the week. He notes there had been a fire to get rid of some branches and stuff, and it is possible that when the wind kicked up on Sunday, it caused some sparks to reignite.
He notes crews were on scene for about an hour and there were no injuries.
