Local automotive shop destroyed by fire to be rebuilt

PALMER — In late February on a Sunday morning, local business owners Randy and Teri Jenski lost their auto repair business, Jenski Automotive, to a fire that damaged their building beyond repair.

Only the far back wall of the building was burnt, however the waste oil tank, which held about 100 gallons of oil, was ignited. Built out of steel and stucco, the building became a furnace, melting every piece of plastic that was inside.

“Everything in the building that wasn’t touched by fire was touched by the heat and smoke. Our cash register in front was melted completely,” said Teri Jenski. “It permeated everything. Everything.”

Even the papers in the closed file cabinet drawers were browned by the intense heat.

Fortunately, owner of Sheer Fire Designs, Jana Powell, who was also part of the fire team, was able to get inside the building and salvage the computer and checkbooks before they were destroyed.

“That saved us a lot,” said Randy Jenski, “I mean that’s your entire client base, and ours goes back a long ways, back into the 80s.”

The insurance company deemed the fire as accidental, but there is really no way of telling how the fire started as the point of origin was so thoroughly destroyed.

The first idea was to rebuild on a new lot, and temporarily rent space in the meantime, but the expensive of that was going to be too high.

Now the Jenski’s are planning to rebuild in the same location, but the process is going slowly due to City of Palmer code compliances. They are not entirely sure when construction will begin, but hope it will be before winter.

“We have to do some landscaping and pave the whole lot. And we’re going to put up a bigger, nicer, building,” said Randy Jenski.

The new building design has been created by Wolf Architecture and is currently under review.

The Jenski’s are presently keeping their old employees on the payroll in order to save themselves the difficulty of finding new staff upon reopening.

“If we were going be out of business for even a year, when we get back into business it’s going to be tough in the first place, but if we don’t have our good four mechanics it would be almost impossible to try to hire new people and then regulate that,” said Randy Jenski.

For now, they are not too worried about the loss of their customer base once they reopen the shop.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that hard because our customers, most of them are long-term customers and they’ve been so loyal, and part of the reason they come is because Randy is so honest with them and they know they can trust him,” said Teri Jenski.

The business was originally owned by Randy Jenski’s father and uncle. When his father passed away 17 years ago, his uncle took over and then sold it to Randy and Teri six years ago.

“We had five teenage drivers at the time so we figured it was a good choice,” said Teri Jenski.