(Submitted/Jecey Buburuz)

By CKOM

‘Corner Gas’ grain elevator burns to the ground

Nov 5, 2021 | 12:39 PM

An iconic grain elevator in Saskatchewan has been reduced to rubble.

The grain elevator in Rouleau, located roughly 50 kilometres southwest of Regina, burst into flames early Friday morning.

Jecey Buburuz lives in the area. He dialled 911 not long after 2 a.m. when he saw the raging blaze.

“I went downstairs to get a glass of water after waking up. I smelled smoke, I looked outside and saw an orange glow off in the distance,” he said. “I looked out my back window and saw the grain elevator on fire.

“I jumped in my vehicle to go check and see what was going on. It looked like it had been on fire for a little while. The fire trucks were just arriving when I showed up.”

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According to Buburuz, it didn’t take long for the fire to decimate the elevator.

“Within an hour and a half to two hours, it was pretty much gone right to the ground,” he said.

Rouleau’s elevator being described as iconic wouldn’t be so far off as it was prominently featured in the hit comedy show “Corner Gas.”

“Everyone kind of slowly started waking up in town and realized what was going on,” Buburuz said. “Everyone starting pulling up and was just watching as the iconic grain elevator came down, unfortunately.

“It was really shocking. Just in the middle of the night smelling smoke and seeing the whole town glowing from the flames woke me up pretty quick.”

The cause of the fire is not yet known.