‘Getting closer’: Four days after blaze, investigation into cause of fire at Dutton dealership continues

Fire officials continue to investigate a fire at a Dutton car dealership. CTV London's Brent Lale reports.

Jim Corneil stood alongside his father, watching an excavator tear down his family’s car dealership.

“It’s just tough to watch it all get taken down,” said Corneil, the co-owner of CoTrac Ford Lincoln in Dutton, Ont.

Four days after the blaze ripped through the business, fire investigators with the Ontario Fire Marshal’s (OFM) office continued to search for the cause and origin of the blaze.

“It’s in the hands of the OFM investigators,” said Barry Gregory, deputy fire chief of Dutton-Dunwich Fire Department.

“We have two that are on scene, and we are here for fire support. It’s been a long four days for sure. It’s been slow getting started, getting some of the battery cars out of there, and we want to make sure those are safe before they continue. They are getting closer to figuring out where it is.”

Saturday afternoon, machines were working on moving the rubble and clearing debris for the OFM to access.

“We have a special crew in that are taking things apart piece by piece and moving out of the way,” said Gregory.

“They work with the OFM quite a bit, and they do a really good job. They’re saving them a lot of legwork, and it is very delicate how they handle things. They can get all the stuff they don’t need out of the way so they can get in where they need to be.”

Four new cars from the showroom were lost in the fire and are now charred and parked in the main lot as they wait for insurance.

Jim’s father, Phil, lost a 1930 Ford Model A in the blaze, as was one car in the service department belonging to a Windsor, Ont. man who needed a quick oil line and pulled into the dealership. He found out his truck was lost the following day.

“There’s still a couple in another on the other side of the showroom, but we haven’t got to that yet,” said Corneil.

Corneil described the past few days as “a rollercoaster”, but are thankful no one was injured, and they can always rebuild.

They don’t have all the information they’d like and are, at times, being kept in the dark by fire officials.

“As I know that they’re just going to keep on looking to see maybe on a cause of the fire and then probably keep on tearing stuff down,” said Corneil.

“We did have to wait to hear from insurance on what to do and then from there, we will rebuild.”

As the Corneil family deals with insurance, they are looking for a temporary location, where they can get back to selling vehicles.

Currie Road in Dutton remains closed by OPP between Foodland and Mary Street.