Spartansburg fire: Crews respond to blaze at Clear Lake Lumber in Crawford County

2022-08-26 22:00:34 By : Ms. Ivana Xing

SPARTANSBURG – A fire that officials suspect was set off by a mechanical issue caused significant damage to a lumber company in this small northeastern Crawford County community on Friday morning.

Upward of 20 fire departments from three counties braved treacherous weather conditions to contain a fire that broke out at Clear Lake Lumber, 409 Main St. in the center of Spartansburg, shortly before 1:30 a.m. Friday.

Fire officials were able to tell from surveillance video that the fire started in a boiler room of a building on the property, said Chris Hughes, chief of the Spartansburg Volunteer Fire Department.

The fire spread to a kiln, leaving firefighters with two structure fires to fight, Hughes said.

The fire also spread to lumber storage, said Eric Bonnett, president of Clear Lake Lumber. The exact cause of the fire was unknown Friday. Bonnett said he believed the cause was a mechanical issue.

No one was injured in the fire and no firefighters were hurt in fighting the blaze, Hughes and Bonnett said.

Bonnett said a night watchman was on the property early Friday morning and spotted the fire. The watchman attempted to put out the fire but was unable to, he said.

Firefighters from Crawford, Erie and Warren counties used equipment including aerial trucks to contain the fire. Water was drawn from two areas of Clear Lake, which sits adjacent to Clear Lake lumber, and from a hydrant on the western end of town, with the water trucked to the scene by multiple tankers, Hughes said.

Emergency crews shut down a portion of Route 77 heading into Spartansburg to free the path of the tanker trucks.

Firefighters worked to contain the fire in temperatures that were in the teens, with bitterly cold wind chills. They dealt with icy roads, falling snow and winds that picked up "really bad," Hughes said.

"Things were freezing up," he said.

The Crawford County Department of Public Safety sent its multipurpose vehicle to the scene and invited first responders in to get out of the cold and to get food and drink, said Don Bovard, operations and training officer for the agency.

One aerial truck went down because of a mechanical issue, Hughes added.

Clear Lake Lumber, a family-owned business founded in 1973, according to information on the company's website, operates out of a 50,000-square-foot facility in the heart of Spartansburg.

The company employs about 65, said Bonnett, the president.

Bonnett expressed his appreciation to the many fire departments that responded to Clear Lake Lumber on Friday and thanked residents of the Spartansburg community for their words of encouragement and offers of assistance.

He said many residents had by early Friday morning offered to bring food to the firefighters.

"We certainly appreciate the outpouring of support," Bonnett said.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.