Foot by foot, yard by yard there is no more difficult fire to fight than one in a lumberyard or lumber storage yard — I haven't straightened which of the two is more correct. No matter how you express it, you have yourself an operation that challenges the best of fire departments and their leaders.

The best way to describe what you are going to need when the wood goes up is everything and a lot of it. That includes luck as well. Let us dwell on the various types of lumberyards you may encounter.

There was a time that a lumberyard was where you went to get 2X4s, plywood sheathing, shingles and maybe nails. Anything else you needed, you bought at the hardware store. There was only minor sawing because the local lumberyard had most of the product shipped in. There was enough wood around to make a good fire, and if the wind was up you knew it was going to be a good one.

Times have changed. Today you have mega-outlets that group home furnishings, building supplies, a hardware line, paint, electrical supplies, plumbing equipment and lawn beautification items all under one roof. It takes it out of the lumberyard bracket.

One of these stores recently opened in my home area. It has sprinklers, a stand pipe system, first-aid fire appliances and electronic fire detectors throughout. On top of that, the area water supply did not cover the risk so a water supply tank was erected to serve for a base supply powered by a fire pump. That should cover the fire problem for at least 90% of their protection.

But not all of these buildings are as well-equipped to meet the fire challenge. One of the lesser variety sat three-quarters of a mile from the well-equipped one, shut down due to competition. This one had none of the fire protection qualities of the first one, and it sits in a fire district with just about no water supply. You can get a beauty of a fire in one like the one shut down.

We will be looking at lumberyards in three categories: lumber mills, woodworking plants and lumberyards with mixed storage

Milling about

There are two types of lumber mills: wet and dry. The wet mill will have a rectangular water pond at the intake of the mill to soak the logs for debarking. The pond can be a source of early water supply for you, giving some time to establish a more positive source.

I wouldn't try to run a full-sized pumper to this pond, especially if the mill is burning. I would leave this spot for a portable pump with a floating strainer because the bottom of the source can have small pieces of bark to clog the other type of strainer.

The lumber mill can be pretty much an open building and is pretty well-automated. One of the odd causes of fires at these locations is the metal saw blades throwing a spark that goes with the residue, smolders a time and if unnoticed can later produce the fire. The cause of this is a piece of metal like a nail or fence staple that was in the log and lived through the debarking process.

Common to any lumber mill are the vehicles to move and stack the logs. First the bad news. These appliances run on gasoline or propane gas. You know what a propane tank can do in a fire. Also, be aware that a supply of empty and full tanks can be on the property. With the gasoline-powered type you will have a fuel tank somewhere. Also, at the mill you will have the large vehicle that can pick up whole logs and move them from place to place. These are powerful enough to be diesel-fueled.

The good news is that these workhorses can do a lot of work, like moving stacks of wood that firefighters can't. They can switch the stacks from place to place out of the path of the fire or give you greater access to the burning area. Be careful that you keep your people well away from this equipment, as it works in case the load shifts and falls off. Operators are used to shifting these stacks under normal conditions, but the stress of fire is another thing. I never saw a mill yard that didn't have its ruts and dips and puddles from the last week's rain.

A universal problem in both lumber mill fires and wood manufacturers' fires is the sawdust. These are bins or pits and more commonly a vacuum system that sucks up the dust and deposits into a collector. For various reasons, some sort of combustion gets into the grit and you can have a dust explosion. This is commonly followed by a second explosion. Dust knocked off by the initial boom shakes up what is lying around, and that second one will be the biggie.

In the lumberyard fire you will not have the logs burning. It takes a lot of heat to get that process started. Since so many of these installations are so close to their source of the raw material, they are apt to be in rural settings. This means a water supply problem right at the start of the tones.

Another problem for our three types of lumber cutting, woodworking and retail selling is that their power lines are often in the midst of the immediate fire areas. This is a good task for the safety officer. The electrical lines should be traced from where the wires come into the property to the end. Don't be surprised to see pole-mounted transformers. It takes a lot of fire to burn a pole until it falls — basically it's a log — but the wires that lead to and from will fall faster. We will switch concerns and move on to the wood.

Working plants

If you have never seen a woodworking plant go up, you have missed quite a sight. It seems as if everything is combustible and wants to join the party. There are dust particles all over, and once the first explosion goes off you will have a big blast. On top of the wood dust and process machinery, there will be a finishing department with gallons of paint, solvent and glue about.

A woodworker can't be insured without an automatic sprinkler system, so that is often the saving grace for many. Get that sprinkler system supplied for volume and pressure and you are on the right path to control.

If you have a woodworker going and it's only one floor high, thank your lucky stars. So many of these structures are multi-floored and may have the finishing products on the top floor. You can spot them easily, as a vent pipe from each booth goes through the wall and rises above the roof. They will have a round cone-shape head so the rain water does not get down them. An electric fan a the back of each booth draws the fumes out of the booth and up the vent pipe. Another worrisome matter is floor openings. Chutes, conveyors and freight elevators are common and they will not respect fire.

Some decades ago I had a close call in a woodworker. Had I done the wrong thing I could have set the whole place off. One evening we got a call of light smoke in the vicinity. An engine company was turned out. I arrived there shortly after they did and it was a good thing.

Adjacent to the factory was a free-standing 8- by 8-foot concrete-block structure with a 6-inch pipe leading to it. It was for the storage of very fine sawdust. The larger size went into another silo. In one wall of the building was an opening for someone to get in and shovel out the dust. Looking into that opening, we saw that the dust was about 6 inches deep. Right in the middle was a smoldering fire about 18 inches across. We thought vandals dropped a match through the opening.

The responding pumper had high-pressure fog, which usually was used first for the small solution. Experience told me to keep hands off of everything. Any agitation of that powder would stir it up, exposing it to combustion and setting off an explosion that would travel through the pipe into the plant to cause a second explosion.

Across the street was a gathering of neighbors attracted to our activity. I sent a firefighter over to them to ask for a bucket of water. Of course, they must have figured we were either ill-equipped or crazy. It did come our way, and I sent a man through the opening to hand splash the smolder. Once that was done we pushed the unburned portions over against the side walls. Perhaps that was far out, but with my luck I don't think so. For a week I had visions of two big booms followed by pieces of the factory falling out of the sky clear over in Canada.

To say the least, a woodworker and its adjacent lumberyard is tricky so don't make a wave (of sawdust). Let the sprinklers handle the plant fire and feed it at about 100psi.

Demands of supply

Our last concern is the building-supply dealer. This is not the mega-store. This one has a single sales building where paint and hardware are displayed and sold. The lumber will be stored in nearby sheds. These sheds are not much as buildings go. They are for quick storage as the wood is sold. It is a good open or fairly open area that allows the wood to dry. They will be something like a pole barn with a metal roof and sides of light metal sheets. This compound will be surrounded by a chain-link fence so vandals can't get into those sheds and steal the wares.

It is a toss-up as to whether these places sit in a community or in a more rural location. That governs the water supply, of course. If you do have one the water supply had better be good because, like the other types we visited, you will have a lot of fire.

What has not been written here yet are the things you don't need at a lumberyard fire. The most dominant is wind, high wind least of all. While once in a while you may have a favorable breeze, one that blows from a direction that assists you in driving the fire, don't count on it.

Snow and cold make for a very uncomfortable job. First it doesn't seem bad to be cooled. In time, as is required in a sustained operation, cold gets through your gear and seems to destroy your desire to hang in there. Cold's companion, ice won't be far behind, and it is rather much to get ice skates on your boots. You might get by when the water is flowing. When you cut back on your flow the big freeze-up begins.

Also on the liability side is the heat of summer. In turnouts it is an energy sapper that can endanger those at work by straining the vascular system.

There is much to know, and so much is against you with a lumberyard fire that you will be lucky to keep up with the rapid fire spread and have all hands involved escape with their skin.

Can you get the best of a lumberyard fire? Not in the beginning, it would have to be a small one with all factors in your favor. So gird your loins when the bells ring and you see a big thermal column rising over the lumberyard. May I say in jest: You won't be bored.

---

Prior to his retirement, Donald L. Loeb served the Dunkirk (N.Y.) Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter, assistant chief and chief. His experience spans six decades of military and civilian firefighting, teaching, and writing.