An auto shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the victim of an arsonist this past Thanksgiving, reports The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Around 2 a.m. this past Friday, the police were called to Ruby Isle Auto, a shop that’s serviced the community for over 40 years now, over a fire that had been started. It was later revealed through security camera footage that someone had poured an accelerant on the vehicles kept at the shop before they were lit on fire.
Five vehicles were destroyed, and if it had been more windy, it’s likely more of the approximately 30 cars in the lot would have been damaged too, shared shop owner John Kalupa.
A testament to the role Kalupa holds with his customer base, when police responding to the fire didn’t have his contact info on hand, one of the officer’s former partners was once a customer at Ruby Isle Auto.
A phone call to the former partner quickly enabled police to make contact with Kalupa, who was shocked to discover his shop had been unscathed by the fire, thanks to the quick action taken by the fire department.
“You expect to come in and the store to be engulfed in flame and you expect to lose 43 years of business,” shared Kalupa. “You feel like you had a giant safety net over you to watch out for us. I can’t say enough.”
With his facility still operational, Kalupa and his team were back to work later that Friday, though police are still looking for the suspect. From customers calling the shop to ask how they can help, to police checking in to ask how they can support Ruby Isle Auto, they were met with an outpouring of support from the local community after the incident.
