Several fire departments fight a blaze at the town of Franklin highway garage in Vermontville late Saturday afternoon. (Enterprise photo — Andy Flynn)

VERMONTVILLE — Though there is still no official cause of the recent fire at the Franklin Highway Department garage, the town supervisor said insurance reps are reaching out to equipment manufacturers that might have to pay for damages.

“I guess it’s a little more complicated than we originally thought,” said Arthur Willman, Franklin supervisor. “We’re now in the process of contacting anyone that might have some legal interest,” he said. “We need to get a hold of the company that put the ceiling fan in the bathroom, all the different makers of the trucks and the manufacturer of the propane heaters we had in there. We’ll put them on notice that there could be a time when our insurance company (Eastern Insurance) would subrogate all or a portion of the claim.”

Subrogation means the insurance would pay for the town’s damages upfront but may pursue a third party to recover the money. For example, if the fire was determined to have started in one of the plow trucks, the insurance company might then look to the truck manufacturer to cover at least a portion of the claim.

The fire at the garage on state Route 3 broke out in the afternoon on Saturday, Dec. 7. It blazed for the next five hours or so. The next morning, some walls were still standing, but the roof had caved in and all the equipment inside, including all the town’s plow trucks and a front loader, was destroyed. Willman called it a total loss.

At Wednesday night’s town council meeting, the council approved emergency spending for new plow trucks.

“We’re going to buy five new trucks from Tenco,” Willman said. “They can provide us five fully-suited Freightliners. We’d be able to get three by January and the other two by February.”

Willman said each truck is expected to cost about $220,000 and would be paid for by the town’s insurance.

Willman is waiting to hear back from the state Comptroller’s office to see if emergency spending can also include replacing the garage.

In the meantime, Willman said Franklin received trucks from Plattsburgh’s and Chateaugay’s town highway departments, and the town of St. Armand is offering them garage and storage space. The town of Clinton donated a basket with shop towels and a grease gun, Willman said.

“As far as I know, that’s all going good,” he said. “Other communities have been unbelievably kind to us, and we’d like to get them their equipment back as soon as possible. Getting at least three trucks by January is huge.”