A large fire gutted an auto body shop owned by Isherwood Body & Fender at 2943 Boys Rd. in an industrial area south of Duncan in the early hours of Tuesday, Jan. 21.
Firefighters from the Duncan Fire Department were called to the structure at approximately 6 p.m. on Jan. 20 and extinguished a fire, but were called back at about 5:30 a.m. the next morning and found the building fully engulfed in flames.
Duncan fire chief Landis Carmichael said the investigation is still in its early stages, but both fires are being investigated as two separate incidents at this time.
He said that at the peak of the fire, 25 firefighters from the Duncan, North Cowichan and Cowichan Bay fire departments were on scene, as well as officials from the RCMP, BC Emergency Health Services, BC Hydro, Emcon, Cowichan Tribes' emergency management, and the CVRD.
It took approximately six hours to extinguish the flames.
"No injuries to firefighters or the public were reported," Carmichael said. "The majority of the building and its contents were lost."
As well as the severe damage to the building, a number of vehicles parked in front of the structure were also destroyed.
Carmichael said the fire was large and visible from the Trans-Canada highway before firefighters arrived, which prompted multiple 9-1-1 calls.
"Many factors contribute to a fire's size, however, an auto-body business can be filled with many chemicals, all of which may have contributed to this fire's behaviour," he said.
"The building also did not have a fire-sprinkler system."
Carmichael said there was significant damage to the building and business, but could not provide any dollar figures at this time.
"Thank you to all the firefighters who brought this incident under control quickly and safely, and another big thank you to all of our responding partner agencies for their invaluable assistance," he said.
Isherwood Body & Fender spokesman Ryan Isherwood thanked the fire departments on the company's Facebook page for their quick response.
"And huge thanks to the staff who quickly jumped into action and prevented this from getting worse," he said
"Even a couple of people passing by stopped to help. To all our customers that have vehicles at the shop, please give us some time to sort through this. We will be reaching out individually as we know more. We are currently unable to access customer contact information."
