2006-06-01 Blaze destroys Centre Pallet warehouse (by Bryan Zollman)

Herald photo by bryan zollman At right, Melrose Fire Chief Jeremy Kraemer runs a water truck while communicating with fellow firefighters.

Embers from a burning pit may have been the reason a fire broke out at Centre Pallet and Lumber in Sauk Centre last Tuesday.

Sauk Centre and Melrose Fire Departments responded to the blaze south of Sauk Centre at approximately noon. Al Lawinger, who has owned the business for 10 years, said between 3,000 and 4,000 pallets and 40 to 50 units of pallet lumber were lost in the blaze, including the warehouse in which they were located on the northeast side of the property.

I'm just glad the fire department got there as fast as they did, said Lawinger, who was in St. Cloud at the time of the fire, but made it to his business just before the fire was put out. They did an amazing job.

Sauk Centre Fire Chief Joe Deters said there was a black strip from a burning pit east of the warehouse leading to the warehouse.

Even after a couple days (of burning) you can get embers flying, Deters said. Everything points to that burning pit.

Assistant Fire Chief John Egan was in charge at the scene. He said because there was no electricity or gas in the structure that the cause of the blaze could be narrowed down.

I can't prove it, he said, but it sure looked like it came from the burning pit.

Lawinger said he has a permit to burn on the property, and has been doing so for 10 years without any problems. He said the pit is located approximately 30 to 40 feet from the warehouse. He said the last time he burned was almost a week before the fire.

We don't burn a lot, mainly branches from the farm, he said. Lawinger said the pallets in the warehouse were stacked, creating a combination of nothing more than wood and air.

Egan called for Melrose to assist because he felt the need for more manpower and more water. He said his crew had to refill their 3,500-tank water truck three or four times during the blaze. He said Melrose also had to refill a couple of times.

It took a lot of water because we couldn't get inside the structure, he said.

The crew was forced to fight the fire from outside the structure because by the time they got there the wood beams holding up the walls and ceiling were already burned. High winds made the fire tough to fight.

We mainly tried to keep the fire from spreading to other structures, Egan said.

Centre Pallet and Lumber has 12 employees. According to Lawinger, two of them working in the warehouse saw smoke. Lawinger said his father, Ken, immediately told someone to call the fire department.

Lawinger said all that is left of the pallets are a bunch of nails scattered in a pile of soot and ash.

He praised both departments for their efforts.

They were so quick to get it stopped, he said. I'm just glad nobody got hurt.