August 23, 2026

‘BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!’ OPP DIVE TEAM OFFICES IN GRAVENHURST BURNED EARLY SATURDAY NIGHT, IN MAJOR FIRE THAT POLICE DEEM ‘NOT SUSPICIOUS AT THIS TIME’

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GRAVENHURST — Ontario Fire Marshal investigators were at the OPP’s Underwater Search and Rescue Unit base here today on a rainy Sunday, after a significant fire scorched the location here on Bethune Drive just before 7 p.m. Saturday.

They expect to be here another day or two probing the cause of the major blaze that required aerial and firefighting support from Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes fire departments after huge plumes of smoke rose over the building that also houses probation and parole offices.

They seemed undamaged from the outside.

Unlike the scuba unit’s office space that showed scorched doors and windows.

The fire is also located north, next to the former Star Motel and chicken wing restaurant that has been closed for some time.

It is also where the Ministry of Evironment once had offices before the Harris government closed them.

The large warehouse type of building on the west side of the road looked severely damaged.

But a release from the local OPP detachment in Bracebridge later this afternoon says the fire is not being treated as “suspicious.”

A huge plume of smoke billowed over the early evening sky on Bethune Drive in Gravenhurst last night after a major fire at the OPP’s dive team offices in Gravenhurst Saturday PHOTO Submitted by Allan Robertson

They say that on August 22, just before 7 p.m., emergency services responded to a report of the structure fire.

When police arrived they found the building fully engulfed in flames and Gravenhurst fire crews already working to extinguish the fire.

Bethune Drive North was closed between Winewood Avenue and Industrial Parkway for several hours while emergency crews responded.

Firefighters were able to bring the fire under control; however, the building sustained extensive damage.

No injuries were reported.

The investigation remains ongoing and the fire is not deemed suspicious at this time.

**Smoke from the fire at the north end of Bethune Drive nearn Winewood Avenue could be seen for blocks over to Musokoka Beach Road. PHOTO Submitted by Allan Robertston**

The Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) is leading the investigation into the cause of the fire with its team of three inspectors routinely first eliminating any obvious signs of where the fire may have started like an electrical panel etc.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or submit information online at www.crimestopperssdm.com.

A couple of residents at the former motel who are housed there through District of Muskoka Social Services, said they heard one “loud boom then two smaller ones.”

Paul Weiler, the closest tenant at the upstairs end of the old motel strip, said that’s what he hear when he looked out his door that faces overlooking the fire scene.

He said a passerby had already called 911.

“I just put my shoes on and ran down to the parking lot, where a lot of other people had already gathered watching firefighters and police arrive.”