By M. Lisa Monroe

Express Editor

Early in the morning on Jan. 28 fire consumed Mike and Windy Kelley’s business, RPM Snowmobile Rentals.

Mike and Windy had gone in that Saturday morning to conduct business as usual. Windy was in the office and Mike was working in the garage. Mike picked up the tail of a sled and knocked over a gas can. He didn’t think the situation was dangerous and did what most of us do when we spill something, he got a rag to go clean it up.

“The room had radiant heat and the water heater kicked on,” said Windy.

When the heater kicked on the flame ignited the gas fumes and within minutes the fire was going strong.

“It was so fast, it happened in seconds. I opened the door from the office to tell him that I could smell gas and I heard a poof and there were these weird blue flames,” she said.

Mike tried to get the garage door opened so that he could get the sleds out but the garage filled with a thick black smoke and he couldn’t get the door opened. Which turned out to be a blessing, when he opened the small door the influx of oxygen caused the fire to flash and burned the side of Mike’s face and his ear as he was leaving the building. Windy’s hair, eyebrows and eyelids were all singed.

“You can’t imagine how fast it all goes,” Windy said.

Windy called 911 and she and Mike were standing on the lawn of the property watching everything they worked for go up in smoke.

“It was terrifying. We just had to stand there and watch it all burn up in front of us,” she said.

The couple lost the whole business. Twelve snowmobiles and helmets, the computers, and all of their paperwork.

“Everything,” Windy said. “George and Hilary [the owners of the building] lost everything, too.”

There was no fire insurance on the business.

Members of the community have stepped up to help as much as they can. Windy says that people have been very kind to them.

“We were in shock. People came to our rescue. We couldn’t even think and people helped any way that they could, even thinking for us,” said Windy.

Two days after the fire the people at Smith Marine had Mike and Windy come to their office and worked out financing on five snowmobiles so that the couple can start their enterprise up again. Smith Marine has made a spot at the opposite end of its building,  where Jreck Subs shop used to be, for Mike and Windy to conduct their business.

“This is Mike’s dream job. He loves snowmobiling. This is what people come to do here in the winter and we really wanted to be a part of that.”

“I really like meeting people and being around the sport,” said Mike.

So two weeks after RPM Snowmobile Rentals burned, it has been resurrected. Windy and Mike had a hard time contacting customers with reservations because their reservation book was gone, but they’ve managed.

“We just felt like this is what we should do. We can’t lie down now. We just have to keep going.”

So if you’re looking for snowmobiles to rent, RPM Snowmobiles has them for you. For more information call (315) 369-2255.

Friends of Mike and Windy have set up an account at Community Bank to help the Kelley family.