Fire Destroys Full Throttle Truck and Trailer Repair

Fire Destroys Full Throttle Truck and Trailer Repair

Fire engulfs Full Throttle Truck and Trailer Repair shop.

(Michelle Pinon/Photo)

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

At 11 am on Sept. 19 the Vegreville Fire Department, (VFD) was dispatched to a fire at Full Throttle Truck and Trailer Repair at 4834-50 Avenue.

Deputy Fire Chief Mark Lucas said the first fire truck arrived on-scene 12 minutes later. “Myself, and the other Deputy Chief were at the remembrance of the Queen at the Legion and so one of our guys came in and said there was a big fire. So, we went to the hall.” They were the third vehicle on-scene of the fire. Altogether, there were 17 firefighters from the VFD on-scene.

Fire engulfs Full Throttle Truck and Trailer Repair shop.

(Michelle Pinon/Photo)

“I was talking to the officer in charge and he said the building was fully engulfed.” Lucas said there is all sorts of equipment, tractor trailers, trucks and other vehicles inside the building. “People were hearing lots of explosions. It could have been anything from a truck tire to acetylene bottles to propane tanks. Stuff like that was in there.”

Lucas said that as far as he knew everyone evacuated safely. As to the threat to the public, Lucas said, “There was no real danger to the public at any time. It was contained. We had the whole block shut down in all directions to keep people back.”

Fire engulfs Full Throttle Truck and Trailer Repair shop.

(Michelle Pinon/Photo)

Lucas expressed his deep frustration as there were people who ignored the barricades and verbal warnings to stay back. “We had a couple of people just about drive over our hoses. They just don’t seem to get it. Our guys need to have room to work. When they run over our hoses it puts us in danger.”

Lucas said they were able to shut off the power about a half an hour after the fire started, but it took longer to shut off the gas “due to the fact we couldn’t gain access to the valve and it was too dangerous to send firefighters into that part of the building.”

Willingdon Fire Chief Barry Hrynevich said he was in the area when he detected the smoke. Once he arrived, he began redirecting traffic before emergency crews came on-scene.

Resident Greg Gulls, who lives about four blocks away from the business, said he heard explosions from his house and came by to see for himself. “It sounded like a propane bottle going off.”

Fire engulfs Full Throttle Truck and Trailer Repair shop.

(Michelle Pinon/Photo)

Resident Ted Wilson he was driving on the other side of town when he saw smoke. He went to the museum before parking closer to the scene to take a look. Wilson said, “It’s the worst fire the town has seen in a few years.”

Abbygail McAdam said her fiancée was driving home from an appointment in Camrose and picked her up to go and check out what was happening. Like many bystanders she took some photos and video of the fire while it was in progress.

Shortly after 3:30 pm a track hoe from Coville Construction was knocking down some of the building material so firefighters could gain access to hot spots and extinguish them.

At this time the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Fire engulfs Full Throttle Truck and Trailer Repair shop.

(Michelle Pinon/Photo)

Full Throttle Truck and Trailer Repair Owner Shawn Grykuliak said, “I want to thank the fire and police department for their expertise and professionalism and the town and community for their support through these difficult times.”

The Vegreville News Advertiser reached out to the Town of Vegreville for comment. Jamieson Brown, Manager of Community Engagement & Economic Development, said Mayor MacPhee was away and unavailable for comment at this time.

Kristjanna Grimmelt, Spokesperson for the Department of Labour and Immigration, said, “OHS is investigating an incident that occurred on September 19, 2022, which resulted in a building being burned. A stop work order was issued, and is still in place, to prevent entry into the building until it is cleared by an engineer. A similar incident occurred in 2020 and was investigated by OHS. A stop work order was issued on this incident. The investigation into that incident is now closed. There were no tickets, charges or penalties placed with respect to the incident.”