By Tara de Ryk DAVIDSON-Fire investigators spent Wednesday and Thursday combing through the charred remains of the A.C. Motors and NAPA auto parts store and shop at the corner of Railway and Garfield streets. A fire late Tuesday night destroyed the cornerstone Davidson business. While the fire investigators did their work, Milt and Sandra Schilling, who own the business with their son Clayton and daughter-in-law Trish, awaited the findings. Investigators found the probable cause of the fire to be a radiant overhead heater in the small shop at the south end, said Greg Reeves, fire investigator, Saskatchewan Office of the Fire Commissioner. "There are lots of indicators out there, but we can't say with 100 per cent certainty," Reeves said. "All arrows are pointing to the radiant heater at that end of the building." He said besides examining the building and equipment, looking at burn patterns, investigators also took statements from witnesses and firefighters. Those statements are an important part of the investigation because the building was so destroyed, he said. Based on descriptions of how the fire burned, Reeves said the fire was either at ceiling level or in the ceiling itself. "Normally a roof doesn't fall in real quick like that," he said. The fire was detected shortly before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Milt was at home when he got a call about the fire. The business has an alarm system that is monitored by a company in Saskatoon, which alerted the Schillings. Meanwhile, people passing by the building noticed the smoke and alerted Miles Cross, who was working in his father Jim's nearby shop. Cross checked it out and called 911. Milt and Clayton were on the scene immediately. Milt said when he got there smoke hadn't yet got into the NAPA store, but it was in the offices. Milt said Clayton had kicked in the back door of the shop, which was full of smoke. "Either Miles or Clayton yelled there's fire, we'd better get out," Milt says. They ran out of the building. "By 10:45 NAPA was on fire and full of smoke." He then had to watch as 11 years of hard work burned to the ground. Clayton, who is chief of Davidson's volunteer fire department, was in a tougher spot. He had to put emotions aside and manage a fire scene. Clayton said deputy chief Adrian Schmiedge did a lot of the directing. "I made sure all the guys were safe and we fought it from every corner," Clayton said. "We knew we weren't going to save it, so we tried to keep it cool and save the buildings around if anything happened." Craik fire department soon arrived to assist the Davidson Fire Department. Davidson had two trucks on the scene, plus a water monitor. Craik provided assistance with its two fire trucks. SaskEnergy was also at the scene with a hydrovac truck to locate natural gas lines so they could be turned off to minimize risk of natural gas explosion. SaskPower also had a crew at the scene. Firefighters concentrated efforts on containing the blaze so it wouldn't spread to nearby buildings. They were helped by the fact that the brisk winds were blowing in a northerly direction, taking the flames and embers away from adjacent buildings. Firefighters remained on the scene until about 5:30 a.m. The fire was still smouldering most of Wednesday. Davidson's Co-op Food Store had to close its doors due to the smoke that was blowing directly into the building. "I feel bad about the smoke, that the Co-op had to close. I know it's not our fault..." Sandra says, concerned about the impact on the Co-op and its employees. She is grateful to the community for its support and to the efforts of firefighters. "We should be so thankful to have that fire department. They are all volunteers," she said. Sandra said the shock has started to wear off. The disbelief that it in fact did happen to them has been replaced with acceptance and determination to do what needs to be done to move forward. Milt says they will reopen in a temporary location, the R.M. of Arm River #252 shop on Railway Street, March 15. Meanwhile, they have a lot of work to do to rebuild their business. "Nothing is close to normal. We've got a long road ahead of us," Clayton said. Milt says it is very likely they will rebuild on the same location. He says there is peace of mind for them, that the fire wasn't caused by foul play. "It makes us feel better, to be 90 per cent sure of what it was," Clayton added. Milt pegs the loss at about $1 million. They were gearing up for the spring rush and were using the slow time in February to restock. "We just got our tire bookings, and our bearing bookings in. The oil just came in..." Milt says. These items along with the building, tools and equipment can be replaced. There were some items that are irreplaceable such as a model car collection Milt had stored there or photos of Clayton and Trish's sons as babies posed with tires like the Michelin tire babies. Although these losses are significant they are thankful that no lives were lost or anyone was injured in the fire. They have insurance. Milt says they are going through that now. No customer vehicles were in the shop at the time of the fire and Milt says Clayton was able to get the keys to customer's vehicles parked nearby and moved them away from the building. The Schillings are glad that their service truck was parked in a bay at Q & A car wash the Schillings have been renting all winter. Craik residents may be assured in the knowledge that Mark Sanden's bus, which was parked beside the NAPA building for quite some time, appears to be unscathed. Milt notes that not even a tail light was melted. Building was constructed in 1963 According to the Town of Davidson's assessment roll the A.C. Motors NAPA auto parts store on the corner of Railway Avenue and Garfield Street was built by Monarch Lumber in 1963. Monarch Lumber had its lumberyard on that corner since the 1910s. The building was vacant when Jim Cross bought it from Revelstoke, which had bought Monarch Lumber in the 1980s, and turned it into an automotive parts business called Davidson Auto and Agro. Initially he intended the business to be an automotive parts store and he gradually moved into vehicle and farm tires as a sideline. He sold the long lumber shed and moved in a newer shop from his farm and used it as a tire shop. "I had a lot of memories in there. All three of my sons worked in there with me," Cross said. "It's a big loss to the community, a business like that." Cross sold the business to Milt and Sandra in 1999. Prior to buying Cross's business, the Schillings were operating AC Motors, a parts and farm chemical business on McGregor Street (now Packet's Foods) that was started in 1986 by Glen Hamre as Hamre Motors. They had bought Hamre Motors in 1990. Milt says Clayton, who is a heavy-duty mechanic by trade, was working in Weyburn. He and his wife Trish were looking to come home. At this time Milt was looking at ways to improve the business. "We had to either get out or expand. We had to do something. With Clayton wanting to come home it seemed like the perfect opportunity to expand," Milt says. Cross sold the business to the Schillings and with the addition of Clayton's mechanical skills they were able to expand the business. "We went into semi tires and put a mechanic in. It was a good move for us," Milt says.
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