FAIRFIELD – Tim Carey of Tim’s Heating & Air Inc. is moving into his new building on South Main Street in Fairfield.

Carey is making the move one year after his business suffered a catastrophic fire on June 24, 2023, when its main building burned to the ground at 1306 S. Main St. The fire destroyed 30 years of contents, including tools and equipment on the main floor, as well as destroying the apartment upstairs where employee Justin Hinkle resided. Hinkle’s dog, Gus, perished in the fire.

Now, a year later, Carey is ready to start a new chapter in a new building at that same location. Ever since the fire, Carey has been working out of the strip mall across the street on the east side of South Main Street. The fire occurred on a Saturday, and just a few days later on Tuesday, Carey was back in action responding to calls.

Carey said Hickenbottom Inc. was a big help after the fire because Carey started a separate account with them to restock his tool inventory, and then paid them when his insurance claim came through. The insurance money has allowed Carey to pay rent in his temporary office for the past year.

Bob Brown Excavating prepared the site for the new building, and Morton Buildings designed it, with construction beginning in May. Carey said he built the new structure to be as versatile as possible, so that when he retires and sells the business, another business will be able to use the building no matter what field it’s in.

“It’s prime property on South Main,” Carey said. “We had a 4,000-square-foot building before. I didn’t need that much. I really rebuilt with the concept that the building will be useful for many types of businesses. It has a large work area in the back with an office area up front.”

Tim’s Heating & Air has five employees, all fulltime. The business is licensed to do heating, air conditioning and plumbing. It serves Fairfield and surrounding towns, too. Carey’s brother Tom worked with him for many years until venturing out on his own. His son and daughter were always in the shop when they were growing up, and sometimes went with him on jobs.

Carey is from Chicago and moved to Fairfield in 1989, when he got into this line of work. After graduating high school, Carey went into the U.S. Air Force and was trained in the field of refrigeration and air conditioning.

“I didn’t know I would do it the rest of my life, but that’s how it turned out,” he said.

After moving to Fairfield, Carey transferred from the Air Force to the Army National Guard, served 22 years, and retired from the military as a Chief Warrant Officer II.

“I joined the military because I was looking for a career in schooling,” he said. “I was looking for a career I could work in and have a reasonable lifestyle. They were looking ahead to the 1990s, and said the service industry was going to be a good industry to be in. I looked at all the possibilities and chose refrigeration and air conditioning.”