``They had 200,000 pounds of cardboard and newspaper inside, and it was burning hot,'' said Fire Chief George Lane. ``We set up lines to protect other structures to the east, including an apartment building and some small houses. There are some big transformers on poles that were sparking and we got the power cut to them.''
Flames shot 100 feet high, witnesses said, and some asphalt shingles were peeled from the roofs of nearby homes. No one was injured. The fire was reported at about 4:30 a.m.
While the blaze burned a large warehouse, it did not destroy the rest of the facility which included four unused grain elevators. Three forklifts, a pickup and a compactor with a combined value of $130,000 were destroyed. Lane said he did not know the cost of damage to the buildings.
Firefighters could not get close enough to investigate possible causes, Lane said. He said backup firefighters were called in from Richey and Dawson County to help Glendive's 16-man crew. Firefighters planned to stand watch over the structure through early Sunday in case smoldering paper re-ignites.
