Submitted Photo Members of the Crosby Fire Department man the hoses to put out the flames at the Lund Construction shop in Crosby on Sunday, Jan. 25. Photo courtesy of Don Anderson.

CROSBY — The owners of a Crosby construction company are taking stock after a devastating fire ravaged its construction shop early Sunday morning, Jan. 25.

Brian Lund, who owns Lund Construction with his brother, Curtis Lund, said the cause of the fire is still unclear pending investigations by the state fire marshal and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

“I just got the chief’s fire report. We were in the shop until 7 o’clock Saturday. My brother checked everything and everything was fine. I got a call at 8:44 in the morning on Sunday from the fire chief (Darwyn Anderson). He works for the railroad and he said, ‘I think there’s some smoke coming out of your building,'” Lund said. “The fire department got there, and it was totally engulfed in smoke.”

Lund said there were a large number of trucks, payloaders, skid steers and other vehicles in the shop which the business uses for snow removal services. Lund indicated they were inside for maintenance and fully fueled with 500 gallons of diesel.

“I don’t know what happened, but when they tried to vent it to get the smoke out, one of the doors popped open, and once that air got in there it just flashed over and that whole shop was engulfed in flames in minutes,” Lund said. “So as the fire burned it burned off the fuel lines, the hydraulic lines and tires were blowing. I figured there were at least 40 truck tires popping and blowing off. I mean we have acetylene torches in there, so it wasn’t safe for anyone to even go in there. If anybody had been in there, nobody would have gotten out.”

The temperature Sunday morning dipped down near -20 degrees as the Crosby Fire Department and other emergency responders contended with the situation. Lund commended the firefighters for their efforts, and said he deeply appreciated the groundswell of support from the Crosby community in the aftermath.

“We’ve had phenomenal support from the community and the fire department. The Blue Line Hockey Club came in and started making sandwiches and coffee for them. One of the local restaurants started making coffee. I don’t know how many texts and calls I’ve had in the last few days. Everybody in the community has talked to me at least once. People volunteering Bobcats and backhoes, offering me their equipment until we get this straightened out. It’s nice to be in a small community,” Lund said.

Lund said he was grateful that no one was injured during the incident, but said he was still processing the loss of the structure and everything it contained. Lund said he and Curtis took over the business founded by their father in 1962, building everything from grain bins, houses, commercial buildings and steel buildings.

“We’ve got 50 years of stuff there, from life that’s gone. It’s going to be a long couple of months I think,” Lund said. “Nobody got hurt. That was our main concern. Stuff is replaceable. It’s just nice to get the outpouring response, and everybody doing everything they can to help us out. It makes you feel good.”