Fire destroys Edson Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership

There was a Demon in there show room as well as a few other vehicles.
 
I lived in Edson for eight years before returning to Manitoba and am very fairly familiar with them. That was a fairly big dealership and they sold lots of vehicles in the hay days. Be interesting to see if they rebuild now that the economy has tanked.
 
I lived in Edson for eight years before returning to Manitoba and am very fairly familiar with them. That was a fairly big dealership and they sold lots of vehicles in the hay days. Be interesting to see if they rebuild now that the economy has tanked.

Your economy has tanked ? Oh that's right, you still got that guy.
 
Your economy has tanked ? Oh that's right, you still got that guy.
The worst part is that they had a number of resources to draw from. Oil, gas, lumber and coal all were based in this area. The greenies got the oil, coal and gas slowed to a halt. Sorry to say this but the Americans killed our lumber industry through protectionism laws which I don’t understand. Then our present government went about insuring everything would be difficult to get going again while transferring funds from Alberta as a transfer payment to the east. All In all it’s a shitty situation.
When things were good there was lots of money now it’s just the opposite. I was fortunate as I realized what was about to happen due to my position at work and looking at long term forecasts so we sold out just at the right time. It’s sad to see because many of these people were hard working people who put in crazy hours doing extremely dangerous jobs.
And that’s my rant for the day.
 
The General Manager is an old friend of mine and she is crushed to be sure. Her son and daughter worked at the store as well so the whole family has been affected by the tragedy. It isn’t bad enough that our economy is in the tank and sales are down well over 50% in some stores then this happens. I will be watching to see what the investigation reveals as to cause.
 
The picture of the dealership from a ways back is terrible.


Nice to see aluminum does well in a fire, that truck is gone!
 
The General Manager is an old friend of mine and she is crushed to be sure. Her son and daughter worked at the store as well so the whole family has been affected by the tragedy. It isn’t bad enough that our economy is in the tank and sales are down well over 50% in some stores then this happens. I will be watching to see what the investigation reveals as to cause.
Both my son and I have had dealings with her. She reached out when my son was getting screwed over by GM on his brand new Duramax and it’s bad front end. She took his truck site unseen and got him into a brand new Ram 3500. She also helped me out with a warranty issue on my 2011 Ram when the tranny went out. Wish her well and hope things work out for them.
 
The General Manager is an old friend of mine and she is crushed to be sure. Her son and daughter worked at the store as well so the whole family has been affected by the tragedy. It isn’t bad enough that our economy is in the tank and sales are down well over 50% in some stores then this happens. I will be watching to see what the investigation reveals as to cause.

I'll be interested to hear the cause as well. Does Cochrane Chrysler have a sprinkler system? Having had two homes burn, one to the ground, the other significantly damaged. I notice sprinklers, and appreciate them, due to my work, I have become quite familiar with them. Alberta is the most lax province regarding sprinkler codes.
 
The newer stores do have modern fire suppression systems but the older stores like Edson do not. As in this case the buildings often belong to someone other than the Dealer so updating and modernizing is often passed on. Interesting that at the same time the store caught fire a truck was set on fire in another part of town....What sucks is that the techs likely did not carry insurance on their boxes which can total well over $30K in tools and equipment. Given the current climate of denying claims in the province through insurance companies it will be a very tough Christmas for many.
 
The newer stores do have modern fire suppression systems but the older stores like Edson do not. As in this case the buildings often belong to someone other than the Dealer so updating and modernizing is often passed on. Interesting that at the same time the store caught fire a truck was set on fire in another part of town....What sucks is that the techs likely did not carry insurance on their boxes which can total well over $30K in tools and equipment. Given the current climate of denying claims in the province through insurance companies it will be a very tough Christmas for many.

There is never a good time for things like this to happen. It does really stink for it to happen around Christmas however. Hopefully at least some of the mechanics had personal insurance. That would definitely make the claim process easier. Though given the scenario, they should be covered by the building's insurance? But, like you said, and I know, alot of claims are being denied. Seperate lone truck fire, eh? That likely isn't a coincidence. It's amazing how much damage one fool with a lighter can do. Thankfully no one was hurt.
 
The newer stores do have modern fire suppression systems but the older stores like Edson do not. As in this case the buildings often belong to someone other than the Dealer so updating and modernizing is often passed on. Interesting that at the same time the store caught fire a truck was set on fire in another part of town....What sucks is that the techs likely did not carry insurance on their boxes which can total well over $30K in tools and equipment. Given the current climate of denying claims in the province through insurance companies it will be a very tough Christmas for many.
My last employer had insurance to cover our tools and tool boxes. I hadn't been there but a few years at our old location when the building burnt down on 2007. We had 6 cars inside from a very clean Maserati to a Pont. Aztec. The heat was so intense that the blow mold cases inside my tool box melted and electronic test equip. rendered useless. My main tool box was sagging in the center after words and I had several tool boxes. This was a high quality MATCO box mind you. I was very fortunate that all was covered by insurance to the tune of 80000.00 total payout. I consider myself very fortunate because the I would decimated me to have to start over. As for Insurance, your claims adjuster can break or make you.
 
The first fire was deliberately set according to the news so in all likelihood this one was as well. Very unfortunate for the people who relies on these dealerships.
 
The first fire was deliberately set according to the news so in all likelihood this one was as well. Very unfortunate for the people who relies on these dealerships.

just imagine, the fool setting the fires probably used a car to get there and to leave.
 
That's harsh.

No burning truck to distract them this time?
 
Last edited:
just imagine, the fool setting the fires probably used a car to get there and to leave.

Like most crimes, we have to wonder, what was the motive? I'm thinking they're car haters. It's a thing. And I think someone is going about it the wrong way. I hate to think it's the other reason fires are sometimes intentionally set. Given the two, this close in proximity and timing, I doubt that. Extremely disgruntled customer? From both dealership's?
 
Maybe someone that had bad dealings with both dealerships? People do stupid stuff when their feelers get hurt.
 
Back
Top