Fire destroys Weaverville mill

Firefighters battle the Trinity River Lumber Co. mill fire in Weaverville Saturday morning.

Fire destroys Weaverville mill

(updated 2:10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12)

By AMY GITTELSOHN
The Trinity Journal
   A fire has destroyed the main buildings at the Trinity River Lumber Co. mill in Weaverville. The fire broke out around 10:30 a.m. this morning (Saturday, Sept. 12). Everyone got out safely. By noon the flames had been knocked down, although the buildings still smoldered. One building had basically collapsed while major damage could be seen to other buildings. One of the large structures did not show fire damage on the outside.

   "We've lost the main guts of the mill," Mill Manager Dee Sanders said when the fire had subsided, adding that hopefully some parts of the mill were saved, but it was too soon to tell. Sanders said he is not sure how the fire got started and will need to talk to people who were at the scene. The mill does have insurance, but Sanders said it was too early to discuss rebuilding, especially since owner Frank Schmidbauer had not yet been reached with the news.

   Mill employees told the Journal that work was being done with a welder on the machinery when the fire broke out, and then the sprinkler system reportedly failed. From the Weaverville Community Services District, General Manager David Van Denover told the Journal that the community water system was working, and any problem with the sprinkler system would have been an internal one at the mill.

   Stunned mill workers and members of the community watched the fire as air tankers dropped retardant and a helicopter filled up at the pond on the mill grounds to douse the flames.

   "It's a disaster," said one woman whose husband works at the mill as she and their daughters hugged and watched from the highway.

   The Trinity River Lumber mill is the largest private employer in Trinity County, with approximately 130 employees.

   This is a huge blow to the community, said County Supervisor Judy Morris. "We will do what we can to help the mill get back on its feet," she said. "This company has been very committed to the county and the community and always reinvests in their company to keep people working."

   Morris said she will request an emergency agenda item for Tuesday to put together a multi-agency task force to see how to support the mill and workers. Firefighters from Cal Fire, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Weaverville, Douglas City, Lewiston and Junction City fire departments responded to the fire.

   Weaverville volunteer Chris Prindiville, who lives nearby, was on-scene quickly. Smoke was coming out of every building, he told the Journal, and he called for air support. Firefighters could not immediately get inside and focused initially on keeping the flames from spreading.

   Interim Weaverville Fire Chief Scott Alvord said firefighters "did an awesome job" with a fire that could easily have spread and turned to a wildland fire. Their next job, starting that same afternoon, was to work with mill employees to overhaul the buildings, taking them apart a piece at a time and ensuring the fire is out.

   For more photos, click on photo galleries at left.