Tim’s Heating & Air to reopen across street after fire

FAIRFIELD — The members of Tim’s Heating & Air Inc. in Fairfield are getting back on their feet just a few days after a fire devastated their business.

The business’s main building, located at 1306 S. Main St., burned to the ground Saturday morning, June 24. The fire destroyed all of the 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. A GoFundMe page was created after the fire to help Hinkle, who lost everything in the fire.

Tim Carey, the business’s owner, said Tuesday that despite the immense loss, he and his employees are eager to get back to work and resume the projects they were working on before the fire. Fortunately, he was able to find a vacant storefront just across the street on South Main Street, in the strip mall. He and his employees began setting up an office there on Monday, and on Tuesday they were setting up a phone and internet line to the building.

“We really lucked out that there was an opening across the street,” Carey said. “Ed Harvey owns the building. We called him immediately, and he gave us a key.”

Though the fire destroyed a lot of equipment, it did not destroy all the business’s equipment since Carey was storing some in a shop behind the main building that was not affected by the fire. However, Carey said he doesn’t have enough tools to continue operating.

“We buy our equipment from Hickenbottom [in Fairfield], and I set up a separate account there for us to purchase tools and then turn in our receipts to the insurance company to get reimbursed,” Carey said.

Carey said he has been impressed at the outpouring of support from customers in the days since the fire, with questions about how the public can help. He said he feels for Hinkle because he lost not just his possessions but also his dog.

“Justin is pretty distraught about losing his dog,” Carey said. “He’s taking a few days off. Gus was a great dog, and that broke all our hearts.”

David Weiser, one of three employees at Tim’s Heating & Air, was the one who set up the GoFundMe page for Hinkle. As of Wednesday morning, the page had raised $5,290 toward its $10,000 goal.

Weiser said Hinkle has suffered a string of setbacks this year, including a car accident where his truck got wrecked, and a separate incident where he broke his ankle, forcing him to miss eight weeks of work.

“Because he wasn’t able to work, he ended up selling a bunch of things just to keep going,” Weiser said. “And now he’s lost everything he owns. Losing the dog is the saddest thing.”

Weiser said Hinkle lost all of its tools, too, which he estimated at more than $1,000 in value.

Weiser said he’s glad to see that the GoFundMe receive so much attention, and to see how many people want to pitch in.

“This is one of the wonderful things about a small company and a small town,” Weiser said.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com