Fire investigators are combing through the ashes of a five-alarm fire that gutted a lumber yard in Oldham County, near Buckner.
It took nine different fire companies to douse the flames at U.S. Housing Components.
One firefighter suffered minor injuries.
Now, an investigation is underway.
State police and the state Fire Marshal are helping local firefighters figure out what started the fire.
Right now, they say nothing seems suspicious, but it could take them a couple of days because they have to look through an area that stretches the length of about three football fields.
The lumber yard is just across the street from Oldham County High School.
That's where a 15-year-old smelled smoke and ran out to record the flames just as firefighters arrived.
"You could feel the heat. I'm worried there's going to be an explosion. I had to back up but I just wanted to get the footage," says Ryan Templet who captured the fire on video.
It took nine fire departments hours to finally put it all out.
It could have taken much longer and done a lot more damage had it not been for a fortunate twist of fate.
"At the time of dispatch, we were a mile down the road at Station #2 in a classroom. It was kind of ironic that the title of the class was building construction," says Major Keith Smith of the LaGrange Fire Department. "We were on the scene in less than three minutes with water flowing. I think it helped a great deal."
Firefighters say they tried to keep the fire from spreading to the company's offices.
While there is some water damage, for the most part fire crews were able to save the building.
Firefighters say about one third of the facility was not damaged.
"We're in the construction business and I've been through it before and right now it looks bad but once you get in, all the clean up goes pretty fast," says Lumber Yard Owner Steven Willis.
And Steven's workers got right to it, trying to continue business at U.S. Housing Components while sifting through the extensive damage.
"We think it's possible a transformer exploded. We have a transformer in that area. Someone had seen a burst of flames in the sky in the general area where the transformer was located at. We've been having trouble with power voltage surges."
Republished with permission of WHAS-TV.
