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Photo courtesy Tyler Wold
By Shane Clausing
McGovern's RV & Marine bounces back

McGovern’s RV & Marine ready to bounce back following fire last week

Jun 6, 2020 | 5:00 AM

On Sunday, May 31 a large fire ripped through a large part of McGovern’s RV & Marine in Clairmont.

The fire began shortly after 8:30 a.m. and affected their service bays and parts department. The fire was able to be contained and nobody was injured.

McGovern’s RV & Marine President Dwaine McGovern says that after a couple of days off for cleaning, his team is ready to get back to work.

“We still have our showroom standing and it’s actually in really good shape. We had a firewall between it and the service and parts department, that was behind us that was completely destroyed. We’re working on cleaning that part of the building up so that we can renovate it and temporarily operate out of it.”

“In the meantime, we’ve already rented another building just up the street and our parts and service people are already setting up. We should be fully running Monday. It’s going to be business as usual, there will be a few hurdles to get around, but it’s busy and people are camping.”

The parking lot will remain the same as well as most of the shop’s operations.

McGovern says that his business lost its phone service as a result of the fire. As of right now, they are working at getting the service restored. For now, they’re asking customers trying to contact them to text their text line at 780-539-1814.

McGovern added that the community has been a big help through this challenging time and they want local companies to help them fix things up.

“The community’s been great and it’s all local providers (helping clean up) here. We also got some local companies looking to do some renovations here for the business. I’ve been here 25 years and we’re the last locally owned and operated RV store in town and my family is embedded in the community and we’re not going anywhere.”

McGovern wanted to thank all the fire departments that came out last Sunday and helped prevent the fire from spreading.

“They got here in plenty of time and saved the main structure. I can’t say enough good words about the fire department, they did a wonderful job and I’m commending them and the work they did. Our family here is grateful for all the support we’ve got and we’re going to come back with our new structure and we’re going to be here for the community.”

McGovern said that he does not yet know what the cost of the damage will be.

by Shane Clausing