YORK COUNTY — Atlantic Marine Service, a locally owned marine repair and equipment shop that has been operating in York County for 15 years, experienced a devasting fire on Aug. 19.
The owner, Bill Every, along with his wife Jennifer started a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help cover the cost of damaged tools, equipment, and lost inventory.
“We got a phone call at 9 o’clock [9 p.m.] from the alarm company,” said Jennifer Every in an interview with WYDaily. “They called to let him [Bill] know that the burglar alarm was going off, along with the fire alarm.”
“We live about 30 minutes away from the shop,” Jennifer added. “So, he [Bill] called my son and asked my son to go over there. When my son got there, he called my husband and said, ‘You need to get over right now.'”
It was a little after 9 p.m. when the family discovered the fire inside Atlantic Marine Service’s building. York County Department of Fire & Line Safety was dispatched to the automatic fire alarm at about the same time. The incident was then labeled as a structure fire, and the department ended up deploying units to the building to help fight what was later described as “heavy fire and heat conditions in the building,” according to a Facebook post from the department.
“I asked one of the officers how bad the damage was and he was like, ‘I’m not sure, but when we got here the flames were rising six feet out of the roof,'” said Jennifer. “The fire was so hot inside the building. My son’s car was in there also, and it melted the top of the car.”
Located at 337 Redoubt Road, Yorktown, the property hosts both Atlantic Marine Services and Custom Gardens Landscaping.
The damage done to Custom Gardens Landscaping’s inventory and equipment was less impactful due to the majority of their product already being outside. As a landscaping company, it typically keeps trucks, mulch, rocks, and plants outside of the main building, Jennifer explains. However, the local landscaping business did see damage to the offices that it rents from Atlantic Marine Services.
“It’s kind of surreal. When people have fires and you see the report on it, you just think, ‘wow that’s so sad,’ and then when it happens to you, you are just at a loss,” said Jennifer. “You think you just lost everything, but not only that, your employees are out of work as well. They have families to take care of, and they lost all their tools.”
Atlantic Marine Services has a total of three employees, 2 are mechanics. According to Jennifer, many of the shop’s marine repair tools from brands such as Snap-On have been destroyed or damaged beyond repair due to the fire.
The business also saw damage to its entire building, and flood damage to the offices, as well. Everything from boats, walls, tools and other equipment was affected.
Jennifer stressed the business remains open and dedicated to continuing to provide services to the community and its customers the best it can. The business has a reputation for fixing and providing maintenance on outboard motors for locals, and it assists crabbers and fishermen with repair services, as well.
An official report from fire inspectors on the cause of the fire hasn’t been released yet, however, the business suspects that a customer’s boat sparked due to its motor shorting and igniting the boat’s fuel tank inside the repair shop.
For more information on the fundraiser, visit Atlantic Marine Services GoFundMe page.