North 141 Travel Plaza gas station fire leaves a void in Covington

COVINGTON, Mich. (WLUC) – The fire that destroyed the North 141 Travel Plaza gas station has left a void in Covington.

Since the Covington gas station burned down on August 16th, Covington Township Fire Chief Rachael Lassi said some community members have been struggling.

“That’s a huge loss,” Lassi said. “It’s another business and now people have lost their jobs. We don’t have a lot of jobs in Baraga County, so this was local, one of the few local employers and now they have lost their jobs too.”

Lassi said people who live in the area now have to travel about 20 miles to L’Anse or Baraga to get gas or small food needs. Lassi said many travelers and truck drivers used the 27-year-old station at the intersection of M-28 and US-141.

“We have a lot of logging companies, trucking companies, dump truck excavating companies that rely on this gas station for diesel and also the overloading truckers,” Lassi said. “This is a stop and sometimes those truckers are out of hours, and they stop here.”

Covington Township supervisor Louella Eskel said the station was a staple in the community.

“People passing by would stop in to have conversations and the older generation would get together for coffee in the morning and there was afternoon coffee,” Eskel said. “It’s really going to be missed. There is nowhere else you can do that in Covington.”

Lassi and Eskel said they wanted to thank all the mutual aid that came to assist during the fire. Lassi said her department’s attempts to contact the station’s owner have not been successful. The investigation into the fire’s cause is ongoing and TV6 will keep you updated as the investigation progresses.

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