Early morning blaze destroys high-end Calgary car dealership

Kulu Motors on 18 Ave S.W. was destroyed in an early morning fire on Monday. Neighbours say the blaze is a blow to the high-end car community.

An early morning fire at a southwest Calgary car dealership sent explosions and flames into the sky Monday and caused extensive damage to a business that specialized in high performance vehicles.

Crews from the Calgary Fire Department were called to the blaze on 1A St S.W. at around 5 a.m. and initially faced challenges getting the blaze under control.

“We called a second alarm fire, so we had 13 apparatus that were on scene,” said District Chief Brent Fahlman. “Roughly about 40 firefighters were here,”

The business that burned is Kulu Motorcar, which specializes in high performance autos.

“They got millions and millions of dollars worth of vehicles in there” said Haraj Bharaj, manager of the Craftsman Collision shop across the street.

“High end (cars) like electric vehicles, high-end Lamborghinis, Ferraris, you name it.”

Bharaj said the fire is a blow to Calgary’s high end car community, noting the businesses often rely on each other.

“We do business with each other. When I need something, I go to them. When they need something, they come to me. So we depend upon each other.”

On its website, Kulu Motorcar lists several high performance cars such as Porsche and Lamborghini models as being in stock. As crews knocked back the flames, it became clear there was little left of the showroom.

One of the vehicles destroyed was an $800,000 Lamborghini hybrid, which firefighters say added to the complexity of the fire because of its lithium battery.

“Just because of all the vehicles that were inside and the deep-seated fire and the instability of the building, that’s what’s kind of taken the time to get things under control,” Fahlman said.

Fire crews continued spraying hotspots well into the afternoon, pumping an estimated 7 million litres of water onto the site to prevent the fire from reigniting.

City officials say the incident underscores the importance of conserving water to ensure adequate treated supplies are available in emergencies.

“These are the kinds of situations that make it so important that we have a sufficient supply of treated water in our underground storage tanks.” said City of Calgary infrastructure general manager Michael Thompson.

“Because of (Calgarians’) actions last week to save water, we had enough in our underground storage tanks.”

Firewalls helped spare neighbouring businesses from being completely destroyed, but smoke and water damage in the area is extensive.

“It is a big hole for right now, but knowing these guys, they’ll find a way to recover, and we’ll get around this. we’ll get through this,” Bharaj said.