City business works to rebound after fire
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/10/2023 (1083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A Brandon business suffered extensive damage from a structure fire early Friday morning, but the owner has no plans of taking a break from keeping the business up and running.
Around 3 a.m., Brandon Fire and Emergency Services responded to a fire at Progressive Westman, a sanitation supplies, equipment, and uniform rental company on Park Avenue East. BEFS fire captain Marv Janzen told the Sun that when crews arrived, the building was fully engulfed in flames.
There were no injuries, but crews were still putting out hotspots left after the blaze around noon.
“There’s a lot of material in there — it’s going to take a while to get access to it and get it out,” Janzen said when the Sun spoke to him at the scene on Friday. “It’s being kind of a stubborn fire.”
While the smoking structure was still standing, it’s charred inside could be seen through a broken window.
Meanwhile, Progressive Westman owner Spencer Day said in a press release that since all company information, including customer and supplier information was stored via a cloud service, staff have been able to start the process of getting the company running again.
“We know we have customers who depend on the products and services we provide. I want to ensure them [that] we are not standing still. I am super proud of my team, in how they have been able to come together and make magic happen and we will be back up and running next week,” Day said.
Day said the challenge will be finding a temporary warehouse with equipment and vehicles to maintain the operation of the company’s services. Day said that staff will reach out to affected customers.
“I know I live in an amazing community, but this morning the outpouring of support has been simply overwhelming,” Day said. “I cannot say how grateful I am for the offers of space, assistance, food, the text messages, and calls and all the support.”
Janzen said that it was too soon to tell as to the cause of the fire, but Brandon police said that as of Friday were not investigating.
The Office of the Fire Commissioner was monitoring the air quality for smoke, while Manitoba Environment and Climate was expected to set up air monitoring in the afternoon, Janzen said.
Progressive Westman was founded in 2009, employs approximately 50 employees and operates five routes across southwestern Manitoba.
» gmortfield@brandonsun.com
» X: @geena_mortfield