Businesses rebuild after devastating fires

BONNERS FERRY — Two businesses that lost their buildings to separate August fires are rising from the ashes.

Construction began two weeks ago on a new, $700,000 Riverside Auto Center in downtown Bonners Ferry.

TrussTek on Highway 2 east of Three Mile — a company that employed 70 before the economy faded — is well on its way to building a more than $1 million facility.

Both Riverside and TrussTek are using local contractors.

“We’ve got the foundation and we’ll pour the walls Tuesday,” said Bill Hiatt Sr., whose father brought Riverside Auto Center to Bonners Ferry 38 years ago.

The two-story, 7,000-square-foot Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep dealership is expected to done by mid-January, Hiatt said.

“I think it will be if everything clicks,” he said.

An Aug. 3 fire of undetermined origin destroyed the dealership. Insurance covered the loss.

Construction on the new 30,000-square-foot TrussTek building began within one week after the Aug. 27 fire, said Ted Byler, who co-owns the business with his father, William and brothers Ed, Jeff and Marcus. .

“We’re really grateful to the community for wanting us to rebuild,” Byler said. “For the first few days after the fire, we weren’t sure if we would rebuild because of the economy. A lot of people wanted us to rebuild. That was really a factor into the reasons for rebuilding.”

The building will include office and manufacturing space. The Bylers expect to complete the building in January, but will need another six months to install equipment.

Insurance covered the loss at TrussTek, where the cause of the fire was undetermined.

For now, about 15 TrussTek employees are building trusses on site.

“We are in operation now,” Ted Byler said. “We’re building every day.”

Some of the 25 construction workers helping with the new building work for TrussTek. Only 10 of the 40 people who were working at the time of the fire are layed off, Byler said.