Fire at Big Timber Sawmill destroys building

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX —  A fire called in a 5:40 a.m. on Friday, April 5, at the Big Timer Sawmill in Colfax resulted in the total loss of one building.

“Pretty much everything was down before we got there,” said Don Logslett, Colfax fire chief.

The building that burned was not the company’s main sawmill, he noted.

Business owner Liberty Aaron said the building housed what is known as the “scragg mill,” which has two blades running at one time parallel to each other so every cut is actually two cuts.

Aaron said she was walking to work that morning, saw flames coming from the scragg mill and called 911.

Fire Chief Logslett said that several people had reported hearing “bangs and booms” in the location of the fire.

As of Monday morning, fire investigators and the company’s insurance adjustor are leaning toward an electrical cause for the fire, Aaron said.

Damage estimates could be in the neighborhood of $100,000, she said.

Aaron said she was optimistic that the scragg mill would be up and running again within a few months.

No one was injured in the fire.

The Elk Mound Fire Department and the Menomonie Fire Department provided mutual aid to the Colfax Fire Department.