Carabin’s depot rebuilding after March fire
RESERVE MINES — Just over two weeks after a fire took out Craig Carabin’s shop and some of his charter buses, his long-running business is already rebuilding.
And if plans go well, it won’t be long until Carabin’s & Transoverland Ltd. bus charters and rentals are back to running like normal.
“We’re head over heels,” Carabin said of the prospect of a smooth rebuild. “We’ll have a building up in a month. We’ve got to.”
A fire broke out inside Carabin’s main shop on March 29, which quickly spread outside to some spare charters parked in behind. It also engulfed and destroyed a garbage truck parked in front.
Carabin has operated the bus charter business in Reserve Mines, which serves as far away as Ontario and the United States, for more than 30 years.
On the day of the fire, Reserve Mines Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steven Binder told the Cape Breton Post the help and quick action of several fire departments on the scene prevented much worse outcomes.
"If it wasn't for them, everything would be gone and we'd be still fighting it.”
Carabin was on vacation in Jamaica when he got a call from his son Mitchell about what happened.
“It wasn’t pleasant. It was two days after that until I got out of the hotel room,” he recalled upon hearing the news of the fire. “But (Mitchell) said no one was hurt.”
He was told the blaze began in the bus that was inside the shop: the Cape Breton Eagles bus.
Mitchell backed the bus out of the shop in an attempt to keep the fire from spreading, but it didn’t work.
“He shouldn’t have done it, but you don’t know what you’re doing sometimes with the adrenaline and everything,” Carabin said. Aside from the new Eagles bus, the in-service buses were far away enough from the fire and avoided damage.
However, the disaster and rebuild is something the owner expects to cost him “millions.” A new bus alone costs about $800,000.
KEEPING UP WITH CRUISES
Carabin said he has enough
building permits to begin work on the new shop and contractors were on site last week, who he said changed their schedules to lend a hand.
One of the repair bays on the shop site is still being used, as the concrete foundation survived the blaze. Carabin also has another building up Wilson Road from the main site, but can only be used to an extent as it's not long enough to fit his buses.
The main motivation behind the quick rebuild is the cruise ship season. Carabin’s biggest customers are the cruise passengers and he has several buses alone dedicated to cruise-related activities.
At peak season, it also employs up to 28 drivers, along with six people in the shop. Often, as many as 20 buses a day run for the cruise ships.
“It’s millions of dollars (lost) if we aren’t ready for the cruise ships,” Carabin said.
The buses’ inspections also rely on a shop being built. They must be inspected every six months and few other places in the area are available to inspect them.
For now, the rebuild continues.
“We got a great bunch of guys who put everything aside for us,” he said.
“We got great outpouring. People are telling me when we get stuff here, they’ll take a hammer and be coming to help. We’ll take all the help we can get.”