Wood shop burns in early morning fire

A wood shop near the center of Sundance caught fire in the early hours of Friday morning, leading to a total loss of the structure but no injuries to people or damage to surrounding buildings.

The structure was located on North West Street, across the alley from some houses but in a large open spot. The fire was called in by the landowner, who lives across the alley and had been unable to extinguish the flames himself.

“We suspect it was started by the chimney on a wood stove. It was a complete loss, but being 17 below makes fighting fire a little difficult at 3 o’clock in the morning,” says Volunteer Firefighter Bob Latham.

The page came in at 2:52 a.m. and Sundance Volunteer Fire Department responded. Unfortunately, says Latham, there wasn’t a whole lot to be done.

“We sprayed water to keep flames off the power lines and transformers and then just make sure that it all fell in,” he says.

“There were no other structures in danger – there was one small structure that was close, but with the way the wind was blowing, it was blowing away from it.”

Firefighters remained on scene until around 6:30 a.m., after which Latham returned periodically throughout the day.

“We got to a point where spraying water wasn’t going to do any good. The wood shop was fully engulfed, with sawdust and wood in there. We weren’t going to stop it,” Latham says.

For that reason, the fire was left to burn out, with Latham checking on it regularly.