February 2nd started off like any other day at Janzen's Paint and Decorating Ltd (JPDL) in Winkler, until an employee came to JPDL Director Sandy Demke to tell her the lights in the building started flickering. According to Demke, they turned the breaker off and on, and they stopped flickering for a bit, and then the battery backups started to beep. That's when they called an electrician to see what was wrong.
"The electrician arrived, and was doing some testing and realized something wasn't right, and by the time he was going to go to the next panel, there was smoke coming into the building. And at that point, we just made sure customers and staff, and everybody, was out and accounted for."
Some went out the back door, and some went out the front door.
Demke shared where the fire was coming from.
"On the side of the building, it was coming from the under eave, closer to the back. I went to the bathroom to check to see if anybody was in there, because the light was on, and then smoke was building into there. So, the whole back warehouse was filling up with smoke."
In time, the fire escalated quickly, and firefighters determined early on, their focus would not be on saving the JPDL building, and went into defense mode to stop the fire from spreading to neighbouring businesses. One of those neighbouring businesses offered a place for the JPDL staff, Demke remarked.
"We just all were at Harval Homes, they offered to take us in, and we watched everything just burn down. It was very, very quiet. Everybody, I think, was in disbelief. I'm sure a lot of thoughts going through everybody's mind as to what now? What's going to happen? Where are we going to be? We stayed in there, and some went out. It was bitterly cold, but (we) took some videos, and we all hung around together in there. At the end of the day, I just said, 'Well not much we can do. Everybody, go home and we'll regroup in the morning.'"
Food and comfort were offered to the staff to try to let them know they were cared for, Demke said, adding, there were lots of calls and texts from concerned people making sure everyone had got out and were safe.
The next day, Demke went to the site to see the rubble. When the staff arrived, they spent some time in the Harval Homes building, which was filling up with WBS staff as well. At lunch, Demke said, they went to a local restaurant, and someone paid for their meal.
Monday morning, staff were instructed to dress warmly, and meet in the stand-alone warehouse behind the fire site, where they worked for a week. At the end of the week, they did something special. Demke took them through the embers of the fire to find mementos.
"You know, it was amazing, digging down and somebody found a coffee cup that was theirs. It was, a little charred, but they could still tell it was theirs. There was one person that saw a puzzle that was intact, so they grabbed that. There was a little 'Spot It' game that was in the tin, and it wasn't charred a bit, so, they took a little memento out of there. Everybody found a little something and walked away, but it was a real healing process for the staff."
Hear the full story of healing here:
Local businesses and individuals have shown an outpouring of support for Janzen's. Demke noted the staff was former Owner Doug Janzen's, and her, number one priority, making sure they were safe and taken care of.
Janzen passed away in 2021 in a motorcycle accident, leaving Demke to oversee the five JPDL stores. The staff has been working diligently every day since the fire to set up a much smaller makeshift location in Winkler until a new store can be rebuilt. Where and when will be announced in the coming month.
She said the community has shown great support and has made Janzen's what it has become. They have tried to give back to the community, and now people have rallied around them offering a variety of ways to support them. When they reopen, it will be on a much smaller scale, until they can rebuild, and ask for the community's patience as they do. The plan is to rebuild the store on the same site as the building destroyed in the blaze.
Demke said Doug was a well-respected businessman in the community, and they worked side by side for many years, working well together. She admitted it's been difficult since his passing.
"Watching the building burn down, there were a lot of memories in there."
She added, his death, the fire, and the rebuilding of the Steinbach store in a temporary location alone, have been challenging.
After completing its investigation, the Office of the Fire Commissioner determined the cause of the fire was electrical in nature.
In a statement to PembinaValleyOnline, JPDL added the following:
'Janzen’s Paint and Decorating Ltd is a huge part of this community and has full intentions of remaining that. JPDL would like to inform the general public, since Doug’s passing, the ownership of all five stores remains in the estate until the estate is settled. Doug’s surviving wife, Constance, has appointed Sandy to manage the company at this time."