A sprinkler system and the actions of both Worthington firefighters and others help keep a Christmas eve fire at Ron’s Repair from being far worse than it could have been.
Worthington Fire Chief Pat Shorter said the report of the fire came at 6:26 p.m. Saturday. Shorter explained that a semi tractor was on fire inside the service area upon arrival. He credited Justin Luinenburg and others with getting the semi hooked up to a payloader and getting it out of the building, which helped give firefighters better access to battle the blaze.
Shorter added that the fire could have had a much different outcome if the semi hadn’t been quickly moved, not to mention the proper functioning of the building’s sprinkler system and winds that were much calmer than those of earlier in the week. He added that the Ron’s Repair office and parts area were looking good, and that a large part of the shop was in pretty good working order. While he estimated there was hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage – if not millions – he said it was a lot less than what it could have been.
Shorter said 22 firefighters responded to the call and were on the scene for two and half hours. A Ron’s Repair Facebook post Saturday night said: “Ron’s Repair would like to Thank everyone for all the help tonight. Everyone is safe. All customer equipment that was in the shop is fine. There was minimal damage to the building and we will have things running on Tuesday morning.”
