Ohio Amish Lumber Mill Devastated By Fire — Expected To Smolder For Days
A “devastating” fire tore through an Amish-run sawmill in Geauga County, Ohio, Thursday evening, leaving behind smoking remains that are expected to smolder for days to come.
Twenty mutual aid companies from four counties responded to help Middlefield Fire in battling the blaze – a sign of how powerful the blaze was.
The business is called M. K. Hardwoods, and going by their reviews they’ve been a well-appreciated business in this community. By the looks of the footage and photos, there will be a lot of rebuilding to do, as the building is “a total loss.”
But unsurprisingly, the owner says they “fully intend” to build the sawmill back. Katherine Huntley of 19 News notes that he’s “remaining positive.” The business does have quantities of lumber and wood undamaged on the property, so there is something to salvage at least.
The smolder is expected to last for the next week or so, in fact, according to the fire department. It’s a large sawdust and mulch pile that is smoldering. As for the fire, no one was injured, though a firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but I hear from someone local that it could be saw dust combustion in the spell of hot weather they’ve been having.
A Too-Regular Occurrence
Fires at Amish-owned businesses show up in the news with regularity. Sawmills and wood processing businesses in particular seem vulnerable.
Last summer, an Amish firewood operation went up in flames in an early morning blaze. Another happened just four months ago, when sheriff’s deputies had to grab hoses and start fighting a fully-involved fire at an Amish sawmill in New York, arriving before the fire crews did.
It makes sense on one level. Sawmills and lumber operations are full of dry wood, sawdust, and other combustibles. Combine that with heat generating engines and equipment, or even traditional fossil fuel-based lighting in some cases, and you can see how these things can happen.
Other businesses are susceptible too, with the cause sometimes being an errant burn near the business structure. In May, an Amish-owned grocery store in Newaygo County, Michigan burned to the ground overnight. And back in February, the Baker Country Market in Lemhi County, Idaho went up in a $1.2 million total loss.
Middlefield sits at the heart of the Geauga County settlement. With over 21,000 Amish across four northeastern Ohio counties, it’s the second-largest Amish community in Ohio and among the largest in the country.
Best wishes to M.K. Hardwoods as they move forward, and hopefully will be back up and running soon enough.
