January 29, 2026 – Town of Trenton, Wi – It was three days after a fire tore through a 2-story garage on Congress Drive in the Town of Trenton. The pile of metal was still smoldering. Blinded by the snow and the sun, eventually the frames of 12 vintage vehicles started to become clearer and clearer. Below is the raw video of the aftermath.
January 26, 2026 – Town of Trenton, Wi – Chuck and Corrine Hiller are still absorbing the loss. A fire late Friday night, January 23, 2026, destroyed a large two-story building on their Town of Trenton property, wiping out 12 collector vehicles and a lifetime of memories.
The fire call came in around 9:30 p.m. Nearly 20 fire departments responded. Water had to be hauled to the scene. Temperatures that night were bitterly cold; -16 degrees and 25 degrees below zero with the windchill.
“There was nothing to save,” Chuck Hiller said. “The whole end of the building was engulfed in flames.”
On Monday afternoon, three days after the fire, Hiller stood in his kitchen flipping through car photos and tossing them onto the table, like he was throwing in on a hand of sheepshead. One by one; the pictures and the memories were all he had left.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “The cause is under investigation yet.”
A state fire marshal is expected to inspect the scene later this week, along with investigators working for the insurance company.
Hiller has yet to step out back and visit the site. He can still see smoke rising from the ashes as he peers out the window. “I’ll go when the fire marshal gets here,” he said.
“You can go take a look it you want.”
The smell of ripe smoke hangs in the air. The sun is blinding off the snow and makes it difficult to even comprehend what you are seeing.
The frozen ground is slick and vehicles stored outside the structure are blanketed with a thick layer of ice; snowflake crystals have formed on the windows. Wafts of smoke rise from two sections of the lower level of the structure as embers simmer below the rubble.
An excavator had been brought in to help extinguish hot spots. Huge wood beams blackened by fire jut out of the foundation and twisted metal is covered with strings of icicles.
A charred steering wheel, the rim of a tire, a frozen bracket surrounding an empty windshield. Slowly, the outlines of items can be identified. The devastation makes your heart hurt.
Click HERE for the release from the Newburg Fire Department
The structure, roughly 7,800 square feet, sat about 250 feet from the house. Hiller, a seasoned carpenter who ran his own business, built the garage in stages, starting in the mid-1970s, and adding on as his car collection grew.
“I started that building in 1974,” he said. “Then I outgrew it. Then I added on. Then I added on again.”
Inside were 12 vehicles, most of them classic Thunderbirds, along with a John Deere tractor from his childhood.
“I lost 11 cars that were insured and one that wasn’t,” Hiller said. “Twelve total.”
Among them was the first collector car he ever owned.
“A 1962 Ford Galaxie,” he said. “I bought that car in 1966. I was 21 years old. I had it all my life.”
The Galaxie, chestnut brown in color, was not supposed to be in the building that winter.
“It would have been perfectly safe,” Hiller said. “But I moved another vehicle in there to work on it, and that’s the one that burned up.”
Several Thunderbirds were also lost, including a favorite.
“My wife and I really liked the ’63 Thunderbird convertible,” he said. “That one was black.”
Hiller said he and his wife were home Friday night when a neighbor rang the doorbell and told them she had called 911.
“I put my boots on,” he said. “By the time I got out there, the fire department was already here. I knew right then the building was gone.”
The extreme cold made any attempts at saving vehicles impossible.
“Nothing would start because of the cold,” Hiller said. “I couldn’t move anything.”
Hiller said the loss extends far beyond the vehicles themselves.
“I had 40 years of collecting parts,” he said. “Motors, shelves full of stuff. I don’t know if I’ll get compensated for that or not.”
Hiller is well known in the collector car community. He is a longtime member of the Newburg Lions Club and took over leadership of the Newburg Lions Car Show in the 1990s.
“The car club people knew about it in less than 24 hours,” he said, noting he fielded a call from a friend in Florida. “They care. Everybody wants to help. There’s just nothing you can do.”
As for the future, Hiller is realistic.
“I’m almost positive I’m not going to rebuild that building,” he said. “I don’t have the use for it anymore.”
For now, he is waiting on insurance and town decisions before making any plans.
“I don’t know what I know yet,” he said. “We’ll see what the town of Trenton will let me do.”
Despite the loss, Hiller said he is grateful for the response and the support.
“I’ve got one car left to drive,” he said.
And that, for now, is enough to keep moving forward.
Below is a letter written by Corrine and Chuck to all the people who helped the night of the fire.
A note of thanks.                January 26, 2026
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Newburg Fire Department and all of the area fire departments who responded to the shop fire on Congress Drive on Friday night, January 23, 2026.
It had to be one of the coldest nights of the winter, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who stood out in those conditions, working tirelessly to help us during such a difficult moment.
A special thank you as well to Kwik Trip on Highway 33 for donating coffee and hot chocolate, and to Tracy Preschat and her daughter Sierra, along with the fire department ladies, for delivering and serving the drinks. That kindness meant more than we can put into words.
We know there were many people involved that night, and we don’t want to risk leaving anyone out. Please know that from the bottom of our hearts, we truly appreciate everything that was done for us.
With sincere gratitude,
