Gish Logging reopening after fire

FORT LOUDON- Thursday marked the reopening of Gish Logging, 14 weeks after a massive fire broke out in the facility.

The fire was caused by a spark from a fan sliding on a kiln shaft. Thirty-three fire companies responded.

"We lost the wood storage, the back wall of the main warehouse and all five of our kilns," said Mike Jones, owner of Gish Logging.

The 35,000-square-foot facility is North America's largest producer of kiln-dried packaged firewood and bulk air-dried cut and split firewood. Total damage from the fire totaled $3 million, with insurance paying $2.6 million and Gish paying the remaining $400,000.

The company has also taken a hard hit with sales and lost employees.

"Sales have been down about $250,000 per month since the accident," Jones said. "We also lost a lot of temps and have had trouble getting people back for the holidays, which is our peak season."

After the fire, Jones and his team of 35 employees decided to make changes, not only to redo the business but also to ensure a fire doesn't happen again. The sliding fan that sparked the fire was was caused by a loose bolt. The bolts are inspected by Jones' maintenance crew, and he chalked it up to a fluke accident. Still other precautions were taken when rebuilding the damaged areas.

"We replaced our five kilns with just two new ones, but those two are as effective as the previous five were," Jones said. "Additionally, we put up a fireproof wall on the warehouse and got a new silo."

The rebuilding project required many late nights when Jones and other employees had to think about how they wanted to redo the business.

"Some nights we would be here till two in the morning and we would only get a few nights of sleep," Jones said. "Overall, I feel like we've done a good job in just 14 weeks and I'm glad that we were able to begin shipping bulk sales of wood again."

Gish Logging is still in need of employees for the holidays. Anyone interested is asked to call 717-369-2783.

Matt Bernardini 717-262-4760