Fire destroys wood mill in West Enfield Up to 50 jobs lost; owners say they hope to rebuild on site

WEST ENFIELD – As many as 50 workers could face unemployment after a fire demolished a wood mill off Route 155 early Saturday before firefighters could attack the flames.

The mill building at Cold Stream Lumber Co. was ablaze end to end when Howland Fire Chief Philip Dawson arrived, he said Saturday.

Dawson reached the scene about five minutes after the first alarm sounded at about 1:20 a.m. Saturday.

“The building was destroyed on arrival,” Dawson said. “It was … starting to fall in on itself. She was done.”

Dawson, who could see the fire’s amber glow in the sky as he approached, immediately radioed for help from Lincoln, Passadumkeag and Seboeis fire departments

But before they could get there or his own fire crews could start spraying, they had to wait 20 to 30 minutes for a Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. crew to arrive at the site, 542 Hammett Road, to shut off electricity, he said.

Crisscrossed with high-powered utility lines that ran to several parts of the building, the wood mill was too hazardous to douse until the lines were shut off, Dawson said. Several lines could be seen arcing in the flames, smoke and darkness.

The delay made little difference.

“There was no stopping it. The delay for Hydro wasn’t going to change anything,” said Lincoln firefighter Rick Smart, whose department’s firetruck arrived at 1:47 a.m. “The fire was still going to be contained to that building no matter what we did, but there was no way we were going to save that building.”

Firefighters set up hose lines and waited for Bangor Hydro to kill the power. When they finally could fight the fire, they concentrated on drowning the flames in the mill building and protecting adjoining buildings and other structures, with some success.

The wood-planing mill and several drying kilns were left untouched. Several truck trailers were damaged.

No firefighters were hurt, Dawson said.

No cause to the fire has been released. Sgt. Stu Jacobs of the state fire marshal’s office declined to comment on the fire when reached Saturday. His investigation is continuing.

Dawson and Smart were not surprised that the fire burned so ferociously and so fast. Cold Stream is a clean operation, but even the cleanest wood mill is littered with sawdust and other easily flamed debris, Dawson said.

Also, the mill building, which was 50 to 60 feet wide and well over 100 feet long, was wood-framed and somewhat open and had a metal roof, so the flames had plenty of air to breathe and a powerful heat retainer.

Cold Stream has about 50 workers, including 43 hourly wage full-time employees and support and managerial staff, said Hollis Moon, a company foreman. It cuts about 12 million feet of white pine for wholesale distribution annually.

Its owners, Bruce Hamilton of Brewer and Fred Schult of Hampden, have run the company for about 16 years.

Both indicated Saturday that they are interested in rebuilding on the site, depending on how the insurance companies rule. The remaining wood planers and kilns will be operational today, and some workers will be on-site to run them, Moon said.

“We’re going to do what we can,” he said.