The headquarters of a major ag equipment dealer in northeastern Saskatchewan, billing itself as having the largest parts inventory in Western Canada, burned to the ground late Christmas Day.
Saskatoon news radio station News Talk 650 quoted witnesses in a report Friday morning that Farm World Equipment at Kinistino, about 65 km southeast of Prince Albert, had caught fire around 10:45 p.m. and was “completely burned to the ground by 11:50.”
Farm World, which recently was taken over by a new group of local owners including employees, markets New Holland equipment and also sells the Miller, Spra-Coupe, Bourgault and Honey Bee equipment lines as well as Suzuki products.
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“We take pride in our excellent reputation as having the most qualified sales, parts and service technicians in our area,” the company wrote on its website. “In fact we have the largest inventory in Western Canada.”
Farm World, which also operates facilities at Prince Albert and at Humboldt, about 100 km east of Saskatoon, runs a fleet of service vehicles and its own airplane.
The total dollar value of the damages to the destroyed Kinistino building and its contents isn’t yet known. A report in Friday’s Regina Leader-Post newspaper quoted Tex Prete, the company’s CEO, as estimating the company’s total losses, including customers’ equipment in for service at the shop, at between $10 million and $15 million.
The newspaper said the company’s ownership group would meet Friday to discuss plans to rebuild the dealership and find temporary space.
