STAMFORD, Vt. -- One of the largest fires in recent memory completely destroyed a lumber company building Saturday, according to Stamford Fire Department Chief Paul Ethier.
Ethier said the call came in at 4:23 a.m., and firefighters responded to find the lumber processing building at the Eagle Lumber Co. on Robillard Road completely engulfed in flames. He said the building was 75 by 200 feet, and it took 50 firefighters and 14 trucks at work until 1:30 p.m. to put it down.
Ethier said that because of the fire's size, the focus was on keeping it from igniting five other nearby structures as well as piles of lumber. The other buildings also belong to the lumber company, he said.
A firefighter and an emergency medical technician were injured after they fell on ice at the scene, Ethier said.
Vermont State fire marshals were at the scene Monday investigating. Ethier said a cause has not been determined, but the fire does not seem suspicious. No one was at the site when the fire began.
According to Eagle Lumber Co. owner Laurence Potvin, the building is insured, as is some of the equipment inside.
"We're still at the very beginning of the planning stages," said Potvin regarding the next steps for the business. "The fire marshall was here, the insurance company was here -- and there's a huge mess to clean up. There's all kinds of plans being thrown around, and we don't yet know which way it's going to
Potvin's father opened Eagle Lumber Co. in the mid-1960s, and Potvin said he was attending college at the time of the most recent fire, when the plant building burned down in 1974.
"Sawmills burn all the time," Potvin said. "They're full of wood and sawdust and electrical things. I think you'd have a hard time finding someone in the business that hasn't dealt with a fire in the past."
The Stamford, Readsboro and Whitingham fire department responded to the scene, along with fire departments from Clarksburg and Florida, Mass. The North Adams Ambulance was also on hand.
"It was one of the largest fires in the town's history," Ethier said.
Transcript reporter Phil Demers contributed to this report.
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