By Kristine Kern
Review Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 7th a truck driver delivering fuel to Wilmont Oil Company arrived to see flames coming out of the front window of the building. Owners Dustin and Jeff Larson were away for lunch. The driver called 911 immediately and at 12:52 p.m. the Wilmont Fire Department received the call and responded immediately.
When the fire department arrived flames were shooting out of the front of the building but of immediate concern was the full fuel truck in the garage and the barrels of highly flammable racing fuel in the garage. The firemen were able to break down the garage door and keep the hoses on the fuel truck, keeping it cool, allowing them to drive it out. The flames extinguished before more extensive damage was done by any fuel igniting, Fire Chief Steve Joens commented, “we got her extinguished pretty fast, that could have been really bad.”
The building has fire damage to the office area where the fire originated and extensive smoke damage throughout the building. The pumps do not work because the electronics were burned. The Fire Marshall has been in to inspect but the cause remains undetermined right now.
As of Friday Dustin and Jeff were waiting on the building inspector and insurance company to see what the future holds for Wilmont Oil Company. Dustin comments “we are hoping we can get going and get it cleaned up, the goal is to re-open.” The brothers have discussed setting up something temporary until the future of the building is determined but no plans have been put into motion yet. Community members are also hoping to see the business re-open, Steve Joens commented, “this could be a massive loss, it would really hurt the community to lose this business, It is nice to be able to get gas in town. It is a nice business to have, hopefully they fix her up and stay.” Right now the Larson’s will wait to see what the future holds but they hope to re-open their business in Wilmont, the sooner the better.
