Fire destroys business in Springfield
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Investigators from the Vermont State Police, along with Springfield firefighters, search for evidence in what started the fire that destroyed JB & Co. Builders on Skitchewaug Trail Thursday afternoon. No one was at the company’s shop and warehouse when the fire broke out. Susan Smallheer / Rutland Herald |
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By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff - Published: December 5, 2008
SPRINGFIELD — Fire ravaged the shop and warehouse of JB & Co. Builders on Skitchewaug Trail on Thursday afternoon, leaving a charred and smoking hulk of beams and twisted siding.
No one was at the sprawling shop at the time the fire was discovered shortly before 1 p.m., said owner Glen Boule, who lives near his business.
Boule said he was home sick Thursday when he noticed the smoke surrounding his nearby home.
"I originally thought my house was on fire," Boule said, adding he was stunned by the fire which destroyed his business. He said the smoke made it difficult for him to breathe because he had pneumonia.
"Ten years of work, gone in two hours," he said, as he helped firefighters use his excavator to get at the smoldering spots in the building, which was built on a steep bank overlooking the farms below in Spencer Hollow. He said the fire started in the back room of the business.
JB & Co. was located very close to the Interstate 91 overpass and heavy smoke was visible to passersby.
Springfield Fire Chief Russell Thompson said he was having a staff meeting when the fire was first called in, just before 1 p.m., and as a result the department had a strong initial response.
"We had three trucks on the scene immediately," said Thompson, who said when firefighters got to the business they encountered heavy fire and smoke.
By late afternoon, Vermont State Police fire investigators were on the scene, going through the rubble and the remains of the building. Boule said his Kubota tractor was in the general vicinity where the fire is believed to have started.
Boule said investigators didn't know what started the fire, and he said his crew was erecting a pre-fab garage at a home in Weathersfield when the fire broke out and he was home sick with pneumonia.
Boule said he had insurance for the building and its various additions, but no insurance for its contents.
He said his business "made anything out of wood," whether it was pre-fabricated garages, sheds, picnic tables or houses themselves.
Boule said his wife had been down at the shop earlier Thursday, working on a dresser she was making.
Deputy Chief Scott Richardson estimated that about 35 firefighters from the region responded to the scene and helped fight the fire. Departments at the scene besides Springfield were West Weathersfield, Ascutney, Chester and Charlestown, N.H.
Boule said during the summer construction season he employed between 15 and 20 people. He said that in the past 10 years, his company had erected about 400 garages in the region. "I don't know how many sheds," he said.
Boule said that a small barn containing trim lumber survived the fire, but that his stock of lumber was largely destroyed by the fire. Luckily, he said, the firm's current project was being erected and not in the shop.
Thompson, the fire chief, said that there was no problem getting enough water to fight the fire. Fire departments set up a portable tank to feed the hoses, setting up a truck relay to take water from a brook at the Lockwood Farm, about a mile away.
Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com.
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