Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Richmond Marine & Sports Burns


Recommended Posts

As taken from the St Cloud Times:

RICHMOND — Fire destroyed Richmond Marine & Sports this morning.

A spark from static electricity ignited gasoline that was being transferred from a boat to a container, according to Fire Chief Chuck Martin who is also part owner of the business.

Five employees were inside the business when the fire started. They tried to put out the fire with extinguishers but it spread to the roof.

The call came in at 8:26 a.m. The building is at 45-Fourth Ave. in Richmond.

Cold Spring and Rockville firefighters were also on the scene.

The fire started in the shop and spread throughout the building.

Martin estimated the damage at $800,000 to $900,000. Firefighters are tearing down what’s left of the building and then the rubble will be sprayed with foam.

----------------------

Hopefully no one from here lost their boat in this deal crazy.gif What a lousy time (if there ever is a good time) for a fire!

marine_man

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, talk about terrible news. I hope that everyone is ok.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

That's terrible news. frown.gif

At least everyone got out safely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No peeps killed is the key...All that other stuff,hey, that is what insurance is for wink.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

Definately a sad day for Richmond residents. Richmond Marine was a place of alot of memories for me. Chuck and the guys at Richmond Marine are great guys who are always willing to help you out with a smile. I am glad no one got hurt and I hope in time they rebuild.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow! Sorry to hear that. I always stop in when I'm up that way. Bought a jon boat from them a few years ago. frown.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would like to add that it was the service station (the old retail store about 10 years ago) that burned.

I don't believe the fire affected the retail store area at all.

I drove by there last night, and it looked like a total loss. frown.gif

They run a great business, I hope they will rebuild.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They do a great job and have a great crew of guys. Sad sight to see last night on my way home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I drove by there as it was burning yesterday am and it looked like a lost cause at that point. I am a bit surprised that the loss was estimated that high. Looked like a pretty old bld to me-

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RICHMOND — A fire that caused almost $1 million in damage hit close to home for Richmond firefighters Monday: It destroyed part of their fire chief's business.

Firefighters were called at 8:26 a.m. to the service center of Richmond Marine and Sports, which is owned by Fire Chief Chuck Merten and Tim Peters. The building is at 45 Fourth St. SE.

Merten was working when the fire started. A spark from static electricity or a water pump starting ignited vapor from gasoline that was being transferred from a boat to a container, Merten said.

Two customer boats and a new pontoon were in the building, Merten said. He estimated the damage at about $900,000 for the building and its contents.

The building is a total loss. No one was injured.

When the fire started, Merten and employees tried to put it out with fire extinguishers, but it quickly spread to the ceiling. Six employees, including Merten, were in the building when the fire started.

About 50 firefighters from Richmond, Rockville and Cold Spring departments responded to the scene.

Firefighters dumped up to 100,000 gallons of water on the building, Merten said. Firefighters also used foam to cool hot spots.

Firefighters tried to salvage what they could from the office area. Computers and drawers from file cabinets were taken from the building and set on the side of the road.

The building's roof caved in, and firefighters began pulling down walls that were still standing.

Merten said he became a partner in the business in 1980, and he has been a Richmond firefighter since 1982. He has been fire chief for three years.

Richmond Marine and Sports will continue to operate. The service center will temporarily be set up in the sales building, which is up the hill from the building that burned Monday, Merten said.

Merten and Peters were discussing the details of rebuilding the service center Monday afternoon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.