Fire devastates Millersburg lumber business
Nearly every area fire department responded to fully involved structure fires at Cedar Log & Lumber Monday, just outside the village limits of Millersburg. Five buildings and a mulch pile were simultaneously burning out of control.
The heat from the fire was so intense, firefighters, EMT?s, and onlookers could feel the heat from the blaze while standing on Millersburg Road. The smoke could be seen as far away as Rogers City and Afton. < p> Steady southern winds blew the fire across Freel Highway and into a field, but were extinguished by the Department of Natural Resources personnel, who were on hand to prevent the fire from spreading to a wider area.< p> EMPLOYEES HAD been working when the fire started and tried putting it out before calling the fire department. It took five minutes for the Case Township Fire Department arrive when the call was made at 7:05 p.m.
Mutual aid was requested from surrounding departments as soon as the first firefighter on the scene, Al McFarland, radioed fire chief Doug Jarvis that they were about to battle fully involved structures.
Sparks from a conveyor?s electric motor on a piece of equipment called ?The Hog? is believed to have been the cause. Storms cannot explain why this fire turned so big, so quickly, because a previous fire had occurred in that same location.
?This one just exploded and went from one building to another,? said Storms. The weather conditions are believed to be a major contributor with warm air, and the extremely dry conditions. Storms received a phone call about the fire from his home at Grand Lake. When he arrived, his work crews were moving the rolling stock close to Millersburg Road where it was loaded onto KZ Trucking and Tulgestka Transport trucks and taken to another location.
?I know their trucks got pretty warm,? said Storms. ?They were pretty close to it. They hauled for four hours and got the stuff moved out, in case the wind went north.?
OFFICE STAFF removed computers, equipment, and valuable items from the safe, put them in their personal vehicles and took the items off at home. ?We figured we were going to lose the office too,? said Storms. ?They stopped it just short.?
It was the only building to survive the massive blaze, which received regional, state and national news coverage. A Quonset hut stands in the middle of mounds of burned product and mangled equipment, but it too will have to be leveled because the heat has damaged the foundation. Storms employed 35 people at the site. Only eight were working Wednesday afternoon.
?That?s the hardest part,? said Jarvis. ?You take 30-plus employees out of Millersburg ? and most of the employees he had are living paycheck to paycheck. (Some) are not going to get a paycheck this week.?
The dry conditions and material at the scene were key ingredients to the rapid movement of the fire.
?IT?S ALL cedar,? said Jarvis. ?The mulch and the chips. He does a lot of planing up there. He kiln dries that, so it?s already dry. You take a cedar chip, it takes nothing to burn.?
Case Township fire crews were called to the scene several times Tuesday, and again Wednesday, as the fire flared up again and again.
?Everybody did the right thing,? said Storms. ?I had no fault to find with anybody.? He said fire is always a concern at a sawmill, but precautionary measures are in place.
?It?s always a worry here,? said Storms. ?Nobody is allowed to smoke back there under the penalty of being fired. At least that?s what I preach at them. Everybody?s ca
Of the seven responding departments, ?They just worked together so well on a fire that got so spread out, with so many buildings and so many hazards in the area. The guys worked really, really hard on this one. There was not too much time for breaks.?
Assisting were crews from Rogers City, Posen, Onaway, Forest-Waverly, and Ocqueoc-Bearinger, as well as the DNR. Presque Isle County Red Cross fed more than 60 volunteers and provided drinks and snacks.
?The Hot Spot? opened their restaurant and made hot dogs for firefighters.
Five Red Cross volunteers stayed at the scene past midnight. Two young men, David Ellis and James Brooks, were commended for their assistance in taking drinks to firefighters and running to a neighbor for water.