Workers describe attempts to battle blaze at Prestige Flooring

A fire at a flooring business left a smokey haze over Jasper Avenue in Saskatoon on Wednesday.

Saskatoon fire crews responded to a two-alarm blaze at Prestige Flooring and Hardwood, which left behind substantial damage.

Clark Goebel and Brady Kazuska, who work at Prestige Flooring, said their Wednesday seemed to be just another day at work until one of their coworkers ran outside yelling “Fire!”

“We went to go check it out and we heard the boss yelling and a bunch of smoke,” said Goebel. “I ran back to grab fire extinguishers and then tried to fight (it) as best we could.”

“My boss was trying to take care of the fire, but he wasn’t getting in there enough,” said Kazuska. “So I kind of kicked the door in and… tried to get the base of the fire taken care of.”

Kazuska said there was a lot of fuel around the blaze, so they weren’t able to fight it back very effectively.

Crews remain on scene as Prestige Flooring and Hardwood continues to smoulder. Light smoke can also be seen leaving the building @CKOMNews #YXE pic.twitter.com/vJrxCtnqWN

— Will Mandzuk (@WMandzuk) July 24, 2024

The two employees described what the fire looked like when they first saw it.

“We kicked open the door a bit and as soon as that happened the flames were just pouring out the door,” said Kazuska. “The lights went out from the electrical right off the bat.”

“Smoke was flooding the building already,” added Goebel.

Goebel and Kazuska said they also had to quickly tow a customer’s RV away from the building in order to protect it.

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Spencer Early, president of Early’s Farm and Garden Centre, adjacent to Prestige Flooring, said it’s always a sad situation when a local business catches on fire.

“It’s always sad to see that happen to a business, because it affects many things,” said Early.

Early said it all started off when customers came into the store saying the building was on fire.

Saskatoon fire crews battle a blaze that broke out at Prestige Flooring on Jasper Avenue near Circle Drive on Wed., July 24. (Shane Clausing/650 CKOM)

“They came in, ‘Hey you’re on fire, you’re on fire,’ and so we checked it out and it was large, billowing smoke,” said Early. “Some of our staff were saying there was flames and smoke pouring out of the walls.”

Early said the smell of the fire was unpleasant, and the smoke got inside his own business quickly.

“It was a toxic smell of, like, plastic,” said Early. “Then it got into the store here and kind of lingered around the store.”

Early said they had to get a fan to blow the smell of the smoke out of the building.