Cause of Battery Boys/Bolt Mobile blaze not yet known: Saskatoon Fire Department

It took a total of 60 Saskatoon firefighters more than 12 hours to extinguish an overnight blaze at Battery Boys/Bolt Mobile, but it’ll be some time before the cause of the fire is known.

Describing the situation that began late on Friday and continued well into Saturday, Dwayne Jobson, acting deputy chief of operations for the Saskatoon Fire Department, said firefighters first tried to enter the building at 710 Circle Drive East just after 10 p.m.

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“The entire building was charged with heavy black smoke,” he said, which meant the firefighters had to work from outside.

The smoke would have made it “easy for crews to maybe get disorientated inside and get trapped, or put themselves into a bad situation,” Jobson explained.

Battery Boys/Bolt Mobile on Circle Drive East was badly damaged in the blaze that started on Friday night. (Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)

He said that call was made after the firefighters confirmed there was no one inside the building. No injuries to civilians or firefighters were reported.

Jobson said it’s also not out of the ordinary for structure fires of this scale to keep crews working for more than 12 hours, and noted the store’s contents – including electronics and batteries – weren’t a factor in the fire’s duration.

“I don’t believe it had an impact at all,” he said.

Jobson said part of the reason the blaze lasted so long was because firefighters couldn’t enter the building, making it hard to find and extinguish hot spots.

“You’ll extinguish it, then it kind of rekindles again,” Jobson explained.

A fire investigator was on the scene by 3 p.m. Saturday, and the emergency crews had left.

The investigator will need to sift through all the material and debris in an effort to determine where the fire started. Jobson said that makes it difficult to say when the fire’s cause will be known.

“Bigger fires like this usually take a while to complete the investigation,” he said.

‘Looks like a total loss’

Bolt Mobile marketing manager Kevin Kindrachuk said he learned about the fire around the same time as emergency crews were arriving on Friday night. He said it’s been an emotional experience for the entire team.

“Obviously witnessing our Circle Drive location, which has been our flagship store since opening, go up in flames is not a good feeling,” he said.

Kindrachuk said he doesn’t yet know how much it’ll cost to restore the building, but he could see the damage to the interior was extensive.

“It looks like a total loss (at) this point,” he said.

Bolt Mobile marketing manager Kevin Kindrachuk thanked the Saskatoon Fire Department for its efforts, saying crews were fast to arrive and, “compassionate and brave in going in there and dealing with that situation.” (Marija Robinson/650 CKOM)

Bolt Mobile has three other locations in Saskatoon, but Kindrachuk the business still wants to have four, and will look for temporary premises in the north end.

“Our plan is to obviously rebuild in that location on Circle Drive, and we’re going to do everything we can to do that,” he said.

He said the company will “come back stronger than ever.”