Stacyville firefighters battle 2 Sherman blazes

SHERMAN – Stacyville firefighters were busy Wednesday morning putting out two fires, one that began at Wheelabrator-Sherman power station and the second about six hours later at Sherman Lumber Co.

Fire Chief Charles Heath said firefighters were called to the power company at about 1 a.m. after a fire started in a large pile of sawdust, used as fuel by the company.

Heath said it appeared that the sitting sawdust heated up naturally and caught fire. He estimated that a 3-foot-by-10-foot section of sawdust burned. A front-end loader was used to remove the sawdust and spread it out on the ground where firefighters doused it with water.

Firefighters finished at about 4:30 a.m., Heath said.

At about 10 a.m., firefighters were called to the lumber company, where a space heater was used to warm up frozen pipes and sparks reached the insulation, igniting a fire. Heath said the fire was put out in about 10 minutes.