A massive fire erupted at the RK Miles/ Allen Lumber lumberyard in Montpelier’s downtown area on Wednesday night, according to deputy fire chief James Quinn.
The blaze, which began shortly after 7 p.m., caused no injuries but destroyed the first fire truck on the scene. The truck “caught a wind change” and could not be saved, city officials said.
It is the second major Montpelier fire in the last week. A fire severely damaged the Main Street building containing the Mad Taco restaurant and Charlie O’s.
Firefighters faced a “massive amount of fire” that had already spread throughout the lumberyard, forcing them to retreat.
Quinn said the fire was generally under control by 7:40 p.m., but crews would likely be extinguishing it for days. Efforts were made to protect neighboring buildings, including the Hunger Mountain Co-op and the Clothespin Factory. Some damage was sustained at a residential building across the bike path from the blaze.
The lumberyard, which included a horseshoe-shaped ring of sheds storing goods like lumber and insulation, reckoned to be a total loss in preliminary reports, may have some salvageable buildings, authorities said late last night.
Several streets were closed to traffic due to the fire. At the fire’s outset, a temporary power shutoff left about 1,450 customers without power, but almost all had been restored by 8 p.m.
The cause of the fire is still unknown. – Some content sourced from Newport Dispatch