Sask. village loses only grocery store due to fire

Pelly, Sask. -

A locally owned grocery store has burned down in the Village of Pelly, Sask.

Located north of Yorkton, fire crews were on scene early Tuesday morning after getting a call about a fire happening at The Pelly Grocery Market.

"We got here at about 2 a.m. and half of the building was already engulfed in flames,” explained Trevor Auchstaetter, mayor of Pelly and volunteer firefighter.

“It kind of became priority to stop the fire from hitting the other building right beside it. We managed to save that building. We have a small volunteer group."

The village’s local fire department was assisted by Norquay’s fire crew during the incident.

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Although an investigation into the cause is underway, Auchstaetter said the department believes the fire started at the back of the store and made its way through.

“It's pretty devastating here ‘cause we're a very elderly community and it's our only grocery store,” he expressed.

Fire crews were on scene on The Pelly Grocery Market early Tuesday morning after being called about a fire. (Sierra D'Souza Butts / CTV News)“It was a necessity store so there’s lots of stuff you still had to go out of town for, but you could go get your milk, bread, and necessities to live here. It’s devasting too because the man that owned it is very good in the community and happened to be away.”

 

The owner was away at the time of the incident, but told CTV News he drove back from Edmonton immediately after he heard about the situation.

Residents said this is the second time the community has suffered a big lost in the last decade.

In 2015, the Fort Pelly-Livingstone Museum also burnt down due to arson. It served as a main tourist attraction for the small area.

“It’s going to hit us hard because now we’re looking at where we are going to go for groceries,” Auchstaetter voiced.