OAKFIELD, Maine — Katahdin Cedar Log Homes is recovering from a fire on Thursday evening that did significant damage to the facility.
David Gordon, president and CEO of Katahdin Forest Products, said Monday that the fire involved one of the manufacturing facility’s boilers and likely started on top of the fuel bin, which he said was “extremely unusual.”
Firefighters from Oakfield, Island Falls, Sherman, Stacyville, Patten, Mt. Chase and Benedicta
helped put out the fire that started at about 3 p.m. Dec. 3 at the 205 Smyrna Road facility, according to Gordon.
“We theorize that it could have been caused by a lightning strike,” he said Monday. “There was lightning in the area near the shop and near my home [in Oakfield], so that could have caused it.”
Most of the electronics in the shop were destroyed in the fire, Gordon said. Some employees worked Friday through the weekend to get everything back online, he said, and everyone was back to work Monday.
Gordon estimated that the fire caused between $35,000 and $40,000 in damages.
Gordon said he was especially thankful to his employees and the firefighters who responded to the fire.
“Their time away from their normal jobs and their families is greatly appreciated and no one knows how hard the fire departments work unless you are right there at the fire observing what they do,” he said. “There is always a tremendous amount of danger involved and it’s because of their expertise that the fire did not consume the whole boiler and that we were able to be back up and running in just three days.”
Katahdin Cedar Log Homes was founded in 1973 by Foster Gordon. His son David Gordon now runs the company, and David Gordon’s son Gabe Gordon is the company’s marketing director.
