Feb. 14--FEB. 10, 2012 -- After just a week of work from an almost month-long layoff, seven lumber mill workers watched Monday as their workplace went up in flames, destroying an estimated $500,000 in equipment and $100,000 in hardwood stock.Four local fire departments responded to Reeves and White Manufacturing, a 20-plus-year-old hardwood finishing facility on KY 211 in Salt Lick.
No one apparently was injured in the blaze. Employees said they heard a "roaring" noise near an air compressor on the south end of the building.
They used three fire extinguishers to temporarily contain the fire and believe that as oxygen in the room was depleted, a 'backdraft' explosion reignited the flames and blew off the back door below a sawdust holding tank.
Volunteer firefighters from Farmers, Olympian Springs, and Owingsville came to assist the Salt Lick department in filling tanker trucks to supplement portable water tanks on the ground.
Fire engines drafted water from the portable tanks and were able to contain the fire by preventing ignition of a neighboring building filled with fresh wood.
Kentucky Utilities was on scene to cut the three-phase electric lines downed as the building collapsed.
Employees said they had just finished a full week of work on Friday, after a winter layoff.
Kim Bandura can be reached at [email protected] or by telephone at 784-4116.
Copyright 2012 - The Morehead News, Ky.
