Local officials are assessing damages at Luverne’s Municipal Airport after a Wednesday night fire broke out in the main building.
Fire crews were called to the scene shortly after 10 p.m. on Sept. 23 and arrived to find an active fire along the north wall of the airport office and shop building.
Fire damage was contained to the office area and adjoining wall to the shop, but insurance adjusters noted significant heat damage throughout the building and to three planes in the repair bays.
Luverne Mayor Pat Baustian and City Administrator John Call met with insurance representatives and State Deputy Fire Marshall Brian Peterson Thursday morning at the airport.
Baustian said the building appears to be structurally sound, but given the extreme heat, he said it’s unclear how extensive the actual damage might be.
“It was so hot the exit signs melted and were hanging down,” Baustian said.
“The windshields in the planes that were parked inside bowed in from the heat.”
Fixed base operator Ben Baum, who operates his Sierra Delta Avionics business on site, was working on the aircrafts.
One of the planes, a 1976 Cessna, belongs to Twin Cities pilot Scott Johnson who was having Baum work on the avionics equipment in the dash.
“It is the most desired version of that plane,” said Johnson, who flies for business and personal travel. “It’s the P-model. It’s the fastest of the 182s. That was my baby.”
He said it’s totaled, and he’s making arrangements to borrow a friend’s plane until he can replace it.
“When you expose metal to that kind of heat, it becomes brittle; it changes the composition,” Johnson said.
“It’s not like you can pull over on the side of the road if you have issues. You’re in the air, and it has to be safe.”
He said he was pleased with the repair work he’d seen with Baum, who was sending photographs and documenting the process.
“He was doing a fantastic job,” Johnson said. “I feel absolutely terrible for him because he’s trying to spin up this business and make a go of it, and this happens.”
Two additional planes were in line for service but were parked outside and were not damaged.
Baustian said the city is insured for up to $1 million for the airport building and contents, but it’s too early to know what damage totals will be.
Baum’s avionics business is insured, as are the planes that were in the repair bays.
Arson has reportedly been ruled out, and investigations now focus on the source of the fire, which appears to be in the area of an electrical panel on the wall between the office and shop, Baustian said.
“A metal lockbox of keys (for hangars and planes) had been secured to that wall, and Ben can’t find it because it melted off the wall,” he said.
The main electrical distribution panel in the shop area was not affected.
The avionics operations will temporarily move into a nearby hangar, and the city has assisted by extending electrical service to the fuel pumps and setting up a portable restroom.