CORTEZ – Multiple fire crews quickly knocked down an early morning fire on Dec. 29 at a boat repair business at 4412 123rd St. W., preventing damage to adjacent homes. The fire, however, destroyed a Cortez workshop on the property owned by Matthew Minnis and Jenny Krohn.
The two have been living in an RV in their driveway following flooding and damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton to their home next to the workshop.
Krohn set up a GoFundMe page, “Rebuild our home and businesses in historic Cortez Village,” and wrote that they had been trying to get their home and businesses back to livable and workable conditions when the fire broke out in the workshop.
“Helene and Milton flooded our home and both businesses with 4 feet of water. We were able to get our businesses back to being somewhat workable, but the house requires more work,” she wrote. “This morning, a fire erupted on the boat repair side and destroyed the building as well as the contents.”
She stated their insurance company canceled their homeowners insurance two years ago due to the location and they’ve been unable to acquire insurance, adding, “FEMA has been of no help.”
“We are asking for donations to help demo the building and rebuild the shop, and replace the thousands of dollars of tools,” she wrote. “We still have the house to re-sheetrock and replace the electrical. We were trying to rebuild after the hurricanes on our own, but this fire is just too much.”
According to West Manatee Fire Rescue incident reports, multiple units responded to the fire call and found a fully involved open warehouse-type building used for boat maintenance and repairs.
The owner was trying to pull equipment and trailers away from the fire. All of the contents inside the building were on fire, including a pick-up truck that began leaking gasoline. Some of the fire crews focused on protecting adjacent residences.
No injuries were reported.
