Latest news with #JimCorneil
CTV News
02-08-2025
- Automotive
- CTV News
‘Getting closer': Four days after blaze, investigation into cause of fire at Dutton dealership continues
An excavator working for the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal tears apart the rubble at CoTrac Ford Lincoln in Dutton, Ont. on Aug. 2, 2025. (Brent Lale/CTV News London) Jim Corneil stood alongside his father, watching an excavator tear down his family's car dealership. 'It's just tough to watch it all get taken down,' said Corneil, the co-owner of CoTrac Ford Lincoln in Dutton, Ont. CoTrac Ford fire Jim Corneil, (left) co-owner of CoTrac Ford Lincoln in Dutton, Ont. stands next to his father, Phil Corneil, as they watch an excavator tear apart their business after a fire, seen on Aug. 2, 2025. (Brent Lale/CTV News London) Four days after the blaze ripped through the business, fire investigators with the Ontario Fire Marshal's (OFM) office continued to search for the cause and origin of the blaze. 'It's in the hands of the OFM investigators,' said Barry Gregory, deputy fire chief of Dutton-Dunwich Fire Department. 'We have two that are on scene, and we are here for fire support. It's been a long four days for sure. It's been slow getting started, getting some of the battery cars out of there, and we want to make sure those are safe before they continue. They are getting closer to figuring out where it is.' Saturday afternoon, machines were working on moving the rubble and clearing debris for the OFM to access. CoTrac Ford fire An excavator working for the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal tears apart the rubble at CoTrac Ford Lincoln in Dutton, Ont. on Aug. 2, 2025. (Brent Lale/CTV News London) 'We have a special crew in that are taking things apart piece by piece and moving out of the way,' said Gregory. 'They work with the OFM quite a bit, and they do a really good job. They're saving them a lot of legwork, and it is very delicate how they handle things. They can get all the stuff they don't need out of the way so they can get in where they need to be.' Four new cars from the showroom were lost in the fire and are now charred and parked in the main lot as they wait for insurance. Jim's father, Phil, lost a 1930 Ford Model A in the blaze, as was one car in the service department belonging to a Windsor, Ont. man who needed a quick oil line and pulled into the dealership. He found out his truck was lost the following day. CoTrac Ford fire Three of the new vehicles from the showroom at CoTrac Ford Lincoln were burned in a massive blaze at the dealership, seen in Dutton, Ont. on Aug. 2, 2025. (Brent Lale/CTV News London) 'There's still a couple in another on the other side of the showroom, but we haven't got to that yet,' said Corneil. Corneil described the past few days as 'a rollercoaster', but are thankful no one was injured, and they can always rebuild. They don't have all the information they'd like and are, at times, being kept in the dark by fire officials. 'As I know that they're just going to keep on looking to see maybe on a cause of the fire and then probably keep on tearing stuff down,' said Corneil. 'We did have to wait to hear from insurance on what to do and then from there, we will rebuild.' As the Corneil family deals with insurance, they are looking for a temporary location, where they can get back to selling vehicles. Currie Road in Dutton remains closed by OPP between Foodland and Mary Street.
CBC
02-08-2025
- Automotive
- CBC
Family vows to rebuild generations-old car dealership gutted by fire
The fourth-generation owners of Cotrac Ford Lincoln in Dutton are vowing to rebuild and continue on the family legacy, days after a massive late night fire levelled their longtime auto dealership. "I just want everybody to know that we'll be back as soon as we can," said Jim Corneil, Cotrac's principal dealer, in an interview with CBC News on Friday alongside his wife, Trish, who is a local lawyer. "I think our community needs us to be there, you know," he continued. "We just want to rebuild and get back to business as normal, as soon as possible." As he spoke, investigators from Ontario's fire marshal's (OFM) office combed through what remained, searching for a cause to the blaze, which broke out around 10 p.m. on Wednesday. Fire crews arrived at the Currie Road property within minutes, and found the sales centre of the dealership fully engulfed in flames — the start of a blaze that would last several hours and force the temporary evacuation of some nearby residents. Jim recalled witnessing the fire's early moments. After coming back from London and dropping off his son at home, he drove into town to fill up at the gas station adjacent to the dealership. "When I turned the corner, I noticed smoke in the building," he said. "By the time I wheeled into the dealership and got to the front of the building … the fire department was coming up already." The couple could only watch as the dealership went up in smoke — a place steeped in decades of Corneil family history, and a place where Jim spent his formative years learning the trade. Jim's great-grandfather opened a dealership on the site in the 1930s. Its current name, Cotrac, is a portmanteau of Corneil Tractors, which the business sold for a period before pivoting back to cars. "I was standing there watching it burn. I don't mean to sound selfish, (but) people are just like, 'you know, It's just stuff.' It's like, yeah … but it still hurts," Trish said tearfully. "The loss wasn't just stuff. It was a whole family legacy. It was a whole lifestyle." Four new cars in the showroom were lost in the fire, along with business awards, mementos and other priceless memorabilia collected over the decades. A 1930 Ford Model A belonging to Jim's father, Phil, who previously ran the business and still works there, was also lost to the flames. More than 50 firefighters from Dutton Dunwich, Central Elgin, Southwold and West Elgin helped battle the raging fire, said Barry Gregory, Dutton Dunwich's deputy fire chief. Crews found heavy smoke throughout and intense heat at the front of the business, along with some fire on the main floor that was quickly extinguished. Upstairs, however, they found intense heat and smoke that was "unbearable," Gregory said. "Something was already deep-seated going on. At that point, the ceiling was starting to give away, it was dropping onto them, so we evacuated everybody out. It was shortly after that it breached the roof." High flames, wind and drifting embers led to the evacuation of an apartment building and several houses on nearby Centre Street. Residents were allowed to return around 5 a.m. Wednesday. Gregory says one firefighter from West Lorne suffered a shoulder injury and took on some smoke during the incident, and was taken to hospital by paramedics and discharged soon after. Currie Road has been closed through Dutton's core since the fire happened to protect the scene for OFM's investigation, and the road will stay that way until they're done on site, Gregory said. Jim suspects the fire originated in the oldest part of the building on the second floor, above the showroom, and may have been electrical in nature. However, he stresses he's waiting for official confirmation from investigators. A damage estimate was not immediately available, but both Jim and Gregory think it will likely be in the millions. The couple has been overwhelmed by the support they've received, and Trish says customers from outside Dutton have driven to the community just to show their encouragement. "We've had people offer money," she adds. "One customer jokingly, the other day, he goes, 'I got $200,000 in the bank. You're welcome to it, Jim, because I'm just gonna spend it at your place anyway.'" The family is determined to reopen, and Jim says they're looking at finding a potential temporary spot as they deal with insurance and everything else that comes with running a dealership. "We don't have the paperwork to even sell vehicles right this second," he said. "Hopefully next week we can get replacement keys, replacement ownerships so we can get back to selling." Looking into the future, the couple says their teenage son, Jake, who works at the shop, has expressed interest in following in Jim and Phil's footsteps. "We were talking about the rebuild and what that's going to look like. I said, 'a lot of that's going to depend on whether you're going to be the next person to take it over." "Oh, hell yeah, Mom," Trish recalled him saying. "That's the reason why we're not going to skimp on the new build, because I'm going to get it up and running, and I'm going to make lots of money."
