The Proprietor Review

A fire on Monday evening destroyed 6 cider block shops in the industrial park off Nicola Avenue, behind the Kal Tire building. The buildings were owned by Cool and Quiet, muffler and radiator. Cool and Quiet also have a business location off Wilcox Avenue on Coldwater road the area is popular with artisans who combine business with residence on the mainly 10 acre parcels of land in that area.
Sources say that the business Borderline Trucking that rented two of the bays may have been the center of the fire. Wayne Richardson said that they got a call in the evening at Kal Tire from authorities wondering were the trouble was soon after the fire consumed the building ” quickly”. A local artisan equipment operator Kelly Smyth on site Tuesday evening said no one knows what happened in reference to renters and adherents.
The buildings were built by local entrepreneur Hans Kruse in the 1970’s and was the center of his trucking business. HK trucking hauled between Merritt and the shipping terminals in Vancouver and was center of the benefit of the deregulation of trucking and the demise of the Canadian Pacific rail line to Merritt, in that time period and beyond.
Hans Kruse is the father of professional hockey player Paul Kruse a product of the local minor hockey programs and the Merritt Centennials junior club. The Merritt Centennials are the longest running franchise in the BCJHL. with over 40 years of producing young people for life and hockey.
Hans Kruse lives in an assisted living home, Nicola Meadows on Garcia street in Merritt.
There remains another six units and the office building in the complex.
On this day: October 28th 1835
The United tribes of New Zealand are sealed by signing of the Declaration of Independence