Fire destroys Jeff’s Service in Galesville

A longstanding business in Galesville was destroyed by fire early Sunday morning.

Jeff’s Service, which had been in business since 1976 and at its location on Highway 53 since 1990, was deemed a “near total loss” with an estimated $1.5 million worth of damage, according to a press release from the Galesville Area Fire Department. Also lost in the fire was a “beloved cat that resided at the business and greeted customers,” the release said.

The Galesville department was dispatched to Jeff’s Service for a building fire at 4:12 a.m. Sunday. Galesville Chief Lucas Teska immediately requested mutual aid from the Ettrick and Trempealeau departments. When Teska arrived at the scene he requested assistance from other neighboring departments through the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System.

The departments battled the blaze through cold weather and icy conditions, attempting to put out the fire, but most of the building was destroyed. The Galesville units cleared the scene at 10:33 a.m., but were paged back out later on Sunday and again on Monday.

One firefighter suffered what was described as a minor injury while fighting the fire and was transported to a local hospital.

According to a Go Fund Me page, the business, owned by Jeff and Tammy Paulus, employed nine people. The online donation page was set up to help raise funds for the employees who will be out of work. 

Assisting at the scene were the Galesville, Ettrick and Trempealeau fire departments along with departments from Arcadia, Blair, Holmen, Dodge, Melrose and Fountain City. Tri State Ambulance, the Galesville Ettrick First Responders, the Trempealeau County Sheriff’s Department, the city of Galesville public works department, Abel Excavating, Charlie’s Fix It & Towing and Mikruts Towing also assisted. 

The press release also noted that community members delivered food and drinks to the scene and to the fire station and retired chief Tom Peterson also assisted. 

The cause of the fire was still under investigation as of early this week.