A fire in the garage at Bristol Auto Performance in Shawville has closed down three businesses. The Shawville location of Bristol Auto Performance, Loft de Yoga and Peggy’s Shoppe de Barbier are all closed until the building can either be repaired or rebuilt.

The fire was discovered late at about 10:40 p.m. by a tenant in the building, who proceeded to call 911 and safely evacuate with his dog. No one was injured in the fire.

Over 20 firefighters from the Shawville and surrounding municipality fire departments arrived on the scene to fight out the fire, according to Shawville-Clarendon Fire Chief Lee Laframboise.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, however Gordon MacGregor, the manager of the Shawville garage, suspects it was electrical.

The next morning the fire department had to return to the building to extinguish a fire that flared up in the roof of the garage.

According to Gordon and Peggy Hodgins-MacGregor the future of the building is unknown as they are awaiting an inspection from an engineer.

While from the outside the damage doesn’t seem too extensive; inside, the back part of the building has been significantly damaged by the fire, with several windows being blown out, the ceiling and walls being badly burned and significant smoke and water damage throughout the building.

Several pieces of equipment were damaged, including a $100,000 wheel alignment machine bought last spring, along with two cars that were being worked on.

According to Peggy the building also sustained damage in a previous fire a few years ago.

All of Bristol Auto Peformance’s clients are being referred to the company’s Bristol location, where Gordon is still able to work. Peggy’s yoga and barbershop businesses are currently seeking new locations, and as now the Municipality of Shawville is offering her the use of Shawville Community Lodge for the following three weeks for her Yoga classes. She is also holding a Help Heal Gentle Karma Yoga event at Astra Estates in Norway Bay on Thursday, December 15 at 7 p.m. Attendees are being asked to pay what they like for the class and are also encouraged to bring non-perishable food as a donation to Bouffe Pontiac.

“I need to work and I don’t want charity but people have been so generous in offering it. So I said if you want to help just come and just come to my class and give what you can,” said Peggy.

Peggy is also looking into finding a venue to cut hair for the clients of her barbershop.

The building is owned by Peggy’s father, Cecil Hodgins, but the businesses were operated by Peggy and Gordon.

The building’s tenant is currently staying with family after being displaced by the fire. One mechanic, who worked in the Shawville garage, is also getting an extended winter vacation, according to Gordon.

Gordon and Peggy say it will be at least 30 days before they know the status of the building and until then they can’t remove any salvageable equipment for insurance purposes. While fire definitely hurt them and left them in a state of “limbo,” Peggy and Gordon are still grateful it wasn’t worse.

“Nobody was hurt. The fire and smoke alarms did their job, the fire department was great,” said Peggy. “There’s people who are much worse off than because they lost everything. We’re very fortunate that we have a family.”

Peggy added that people have already been very generous towards her, including an unknown person paying her gas in Renfrew.

She said that anybody who wants to help out can sign up for her Yoga classes or buy gift certificates for her barbershop and emphasized that they are not looking for charity.

They also mentioned that dealing with the insurance companies has not been difficult so far.

They also haven’t let the tragedy affect their enthusiasm for making their businesses work.

“Our family has been here for 200 years, the Hodgins family is not going anywhere,” said Peggy.

“It’s either going to be torn down and rebuilt or fixed, one way or another,” said Gordon. “Next year. I’m going to be in operation full force again. I don’t care if I’m out in the lot fixing someone’s tires, we don’t give up.”

You can follow Peggy Hodgins-Macgregor and Bristol Auto Performance for updates on their businesses on Facebook.

Peggy Hodgins-MacGregor and Gordon MacGregor in a relatively undamaged part of the building.

The Shawville Clarendon Fire Department monitoring the building fire after putting out the fire that restarted on Thursday morning.

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