Blaze destroys Sinclair fire chief’s building Loss to Daigle construction, plowing business estimated at $200,000

SINCLAIR – Monday night was not a good one for Sinclair Fire Chief Jimmy Daigle.

Neighbors called him at about 9 p.m. concerning a fire at his construction business. The fire destroyed the 90-by-60-foot building and everything in it.

Daigle said Thursday he lost three plow trucks and a lifetime’s worth of tools and equipment. He estimated the partially insured loss at over $200,000.

The fire chief also lost his dog, a Doberman named “Lady.”

Daigle thinks the fire was started by a wood stove used as a supplemental heat source for the building.

“It’s quite a feeling to be told there’s a fire, and it’s your own building,” the fire chief said. “It was too far gone by the time we got there to save anything.

“My neighbors saw a glow on top of the hill and went to see what it was,” Daigle said. “They saw the flames and came back down the hill to tell me. I was asleep, and they woke me up.”

More than 25 firefighters and six trucks came to his assistance from the Sinclair, Guerrette and St. Agatha fire departments when the 9:15 p.m. alarm was sounded Monday.

Firefighters were at the scene until 2 a.m. Tuesday. Daigle remained at the scene watering down hot spots through the night.

Daigle’s garage is located atop a hill, about a half-mile from Shore Road, just off Route 162. The building was formerly a restaurant, bottle club and nightclub.

In the 1960s and ’70s, Pete’s Maple Grove Club was operated by Jim Daigle’s father, Pete Daigle. The establishment was a favorite for snowmobilers and summer camp owners, and for weddings and other parties.

Jimmy Daigle converted the structure into a garage about seven years ago.

Daigle said he lost cement mixers, pumps, generators, wood splitters, landscaping rakes and an unknown number of hand and power tools in the fire.

He said he hopes to rebuild the building in the spring.

“We need space inside to work on the equipment,” he said.

Despite the loss, Daigle said, he has enough equipment left, including trucks and a payloader, to fulfill his winter snow-removal and road-upkeep contracts.