Fire at Regina donut store deemed accidental, caused by ‘failure of a commercial appliance’

The fire that led to the closure of a Regina donut shop early on Monday morning has been deemed accidental by investigators.

The fire at Country Corner Donuts, on the corner of Dewdney Avenue and Broad Street, left behind quite a bit of smoke damage, and owner Vuong Pham said thick smoke was clouding the entire store when he arrived at 4 a.m. on Monday, after being alerted by a call from his alarm system.

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“My thoughts were, ‘Oh my God, what happened? My business… I feel very bad because it is all my life in here,” Pham told 980 CJME.

“I have never seen smoke like that before.”

He said he opened the windows and doors to vent the smoke, then grabbed a bucket and began dousing the flames. He also called 9-1-1 to get help from the fire department.

“The business owner initially attempted to extinguish the fire when he arrived at the scene, and it was quickly brought under control by the responding fire crew,” Regina Fire & Protective Services said in a statement issued on Wednesday morning.

“The business sustained significant smoke damage, with fire damage confined to where the fire started.”

The fire department said its investigators, working alongside Technical Safety Authority Saskatchewan, determined that the fire was accidental, “resulting from the failure of a commercial appliance.”

No injuries were reported in the fire, and Pham said he plans to reopen the shop as soon as possible, though it may be some time as the damage is extensive. On Monday, he said his next step will be to talk to his insurer.

The fire comes after many struggles for Pham at his store, including a string of vandalism attacks where someone broke several windows and wrote racist graffiti on the building. The shop was vandalised at least five times between 2021 and 2022.

–with files from 980 CJME’s Abby Zieverink