Multiple fire crews called in for lumber yard fire

GRANGER, Ind. -- The call about a fire at a lumber yard created quite the buzz Wednesday afternoon. The fire started in the workshop area at Universal Forest Products on Herbert Street in Granger.

The plant manager said workers saw some sawdust smoldering and that's when they called 9-1-1.

On their way home this afternoon, Nancy and Mark Stapleton had a gut wrenching moment.

"We pulled off the side of the road and when we got up here a little bit closer we saw it was all here around our neighborhood,” said Mark Stapleton. "I'm thinking, man I hope my house didn't catch fire because my dog’s in there!"

Four fire trucks blocked the Stapleton's usual route home to the corner of Herbert and Saint Thomas streets.

Fortunately crews weren’t working on their house, but the lumber yard directly across the street.

"When we have something at a high risk establishment such as this, it's a lumber yard in an area without any municipal fire hydrants, we are very cautious about our response. We want to send plenty of resources including the manpower and the water it would take to extinguish the fire, had it spread into any of the wood they have stored here,” said John Vance, Chief of the Clay Fire Department.

The fire was quickly contained and extinguished with little damage to the workshop area.

The Stapletons said seeing the response to the fire makes them more comfortable should a more serious problem arise.

"I wasn't nervous. If I saw it really big and out of control, I might've been, but we've lived here 4 or 5 years and that's the first time they've had a fire,” said Stapleton.

The fire department says this was a normal commercial response but crews called in additional units not only because it was a high risk situation but also because there is no water supply in the area.