GAYLORD — Raging flames in the attic of a former lumber store in Gaylord greeted firefighters in pre-dawn hours, a fire that ended with the building in ruins.
A former Carter Lumber Company store on West M-32 in Gaylord caught fire early today and firefighters arrived at the scene at 5:40 a.m. No one was injured, but he blaze proved a challenge to extinguish.
"We don't have a hydrant here, so we have to truck in the water," said Chief Tim Warren of the Otsego County Fire Department. "We had to get the road commission to come out and work the loader to move the snow. We couldn't get the trucks in here."
The lumber store opened in the spring of 2001, but closed in December 2006 after both a Home Depot and a Lowe's store opened in Gaylord. The property sat idle since then, with snow removal foregone during winter months and electricity shut off last year.
Real estate signs now adorn the front lawn. The 22,500-square foot building was constructed and passed occupancy inspections in 2000, county building officials said.
Firefighters battled the fire for hours, with pockets of flames still visible within the smoking structure after three hours of work. Four other fire departments responded through mutual aid agreements, including those in Johannesburg, Wolverine, Vanderbilt and Elmira.
Warren said the fire's cause remains unknown, but it doesn't appear to be suspicious. It might have started near the gas meter, perhaps from falling ice, he said.
Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Dale Hardy, the fire marshal, will investigate what ignited the fire, but could not be reached for comment Monday morning.
County records show the property is still owned by the business, which has Carter Lumber Company stores open in Cadillac, Ludington, Muskegon and Mount Pleasant. Officials at the company headquarters in Kent, Ohio, could not be reached for comment.
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