A fire in Crystal City has destroyed the town's only grain elevator.

Witnesses have reported to DiscoverWestman.com a fire broke out at the elevator in Crystal City. Flames were seen shooting high above the wooden Paterson Grain facility located on South Railway Avenue early Monday evening.

RM of Louise EMO Coordinator Cheryl McKitrick says “shortly after 6:00 p.m. there was something that sounded like an explosion and the top of the elevator looked like it was blown off.” She says it is too early to say what caused the fire or the extent of damage in that part of town.

Reeve Ken Buchanan calls it a huge loss for the community. “The fire destroyed the Paterson elevator and another the Cudmore Bros. Hardware store.

STARS Air Ambulance was called to Crystal City. A man in his 30's suffering from burns was transported to hospital in Winnipeg. He's in stable condition.

Manitoba Hydro reported an outage to approximately 282 customers as of 6:25 p.m. to areas primarily southwest of Crystal City, including the Clearwater area, but it's unconfirmed if the disruption was directly related to the blaze.

 

The below pictures were submitted by Bill Tiessen, Jeremy Wall, Jonathan Wieler and Alex Tiessen.