From Duluth Fire Dept. Assistant Chief Erik Simonson:

At 2:47 a.m., the Duluth Fire Department responded to report of smoke coming from the Peerless Auto Body Shop. 

Initial arriving crews reported heavy black smoke coming from multiple locations of the large commercial building. The fire was well involved prior to arrival. Crews made entry to the interior three separate times before being driven back by the fire. 

Operations went defensive and stayed defensive for the remainder of the fire. The building is approximately 38,000 square feet in total size. 

A second alarm was called due to the size and complexity of the building and the difficulties involved with cold weather firefighting. Crews had difficulty with frozen hydrants and freezing handlines. At one point, there were five engine companies, three ladder companies, one rescue squad and one battalion chief, for a total of 28 firefighters. 

No one is believed to be inside the building, although firefighters have not been able to complete a thorough search as of yet. 

No firefighters were injured during the fire, and initial damage to the building is estimated at the total building value or $100,000. No estimate is yet available for the contents damaged, but again a total loss is anticipated. 

The origin and cause of the fire is under investigation by the Duluth Fire Marshal's office.

Peerless Auto Body moved earlier this year. The previous location was near Whoopee Wall and Point of Rocks at 1718 W. First St., as seen in the photo below.



The business was founded in 1914 as Peerless Auto Top & Body Co. It is sometimes referred to as Peerless Collision Center or Peerless Auto of Duluth these days.

For most of its history it was located at 532 E. First St. and run by the Usan family. Jacob J. Usan was its president for several decades.

The burning building is the new Peerless location at 2831 W. Superior St., which is on the same block as the Western Building. In the photo below, the Western is in the foreground, and the smoldering Peerless is in the background. It's a huge building -- nearly 40,000 square feet.



Below are two more up-close shots of the damage:

In response to Year of Glad's comment regarding the value of the destroyed Peerless building:

The estimated market value of the building was $97,600, but the land's EMV is $239,000. The amount of equipment and vehicles Peerless must have had in there would also be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So, yeah, it's a much bigger loss than $100,000, but that was the building's estimated value.

It turns out Chuck Frederick, Jim Heffernan and I have been up to the same thing today. Harry W. Zinsmaster was the greatest thing since sliced bread, so I couldn't resist putting together some info on him.

Zinsmaster founded the Zinsmaster Bread Co. in 1913 in Duluth and remained active in it for 64 years. His bread was originally called "Butternut," but was changed to "Master Bread" in 1925. Zinsmaster holds the distinction of being the first baker in Duluth to sell sliced bread.

He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1885 and graduated from Amherst College in 1908. He partnered with R. F. Smith to launch what was initially called the Zinsmaster-Smith Bread Co.

Zinsmaster bought out Smith in 1918 and opened a second plant in St. Paul. He also bought the cracker-making Hol-Ry Co. of Duluth in 1931.

The list of boards, charities and clubs Zinsmaster was associated with goes on and on. He died June 14, 1977, at the age of 92. William Metz took over as chairman of the company, which later became Metz Baking. 

The Overhead Door Co. of Duluth occupied the old Zinsmaster/Metz building for much of the recent years before Peerless moved in.

Oh, and here's a fun fact:

The late Bill Johnson, founder of the totally awesome Johnson's Bakery in the friendly West End, worked at Zinsmaster briefly in the 1940s.