Hotsticks firewood manufacturer faces second multi-million dollar fire in almost 7 years

A day-long fire at a central Pennsylvania firewood manufacturer last week could have been worse if not for a safety measure put in place after a blaze more than six years ago caused extensive, and expensive, damage.

Gish Logging in Fort Loudon produces and sells Hotsticks, a kiln-dried firewood product that is designed to burn very hot and for a very long time. The fire Friday destroyed 500 cords (one cord equals 128 cubic feet) of kiln-dried wood, all of the company's packaging equipment, conveyors, and a machine used for wood chip production, owner Mike Jones wrote in an email. He runs the business with his sons, Michael and Eric.

The company's large stock of completed Hotsticks products will burn another day, in customers' fireplaces and burn pits. The warehouse was protected by a firewall Jones had installed after a fire in 2016 caused a few million dollars in damage and losses.

'Everything … was designed to burn'

The first units arrived at Gish Logging, 4980 Path Valley Road, about 10 minutes after the first dispatch at 8:13 a.m. and found a "well-developed" fire at the back of a storage building, according to Deputy Ambulance Chief John Rowe of Metal Township Fire and Ambulance. Command soon upgraded it to a 3-alarm fire to increase manpower to battle the intense flames, Rowe said.

“The most difficult part of this is, everything that was burning was designed to burn. That’s what they make,” he said. “It’s an excellent product and catches fire when you wink at it.”

The extreme temperature compromised the integrity of the metal pole building, causing a section of it to collapse, Rowe said. That hurt firefighters' ability to douse the flames, which had already been a struggle due to the metal causing the water to "bounce" around, he said.

“You have the risk of the building imploding and the walls coming out. It creates a collapse zone and forces firefighters to stay outside of that and have to bail water in from a distance,” Rowe said.

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No injuries were reported due to the fire, Rowe said.

The cause of the fire is not yet known. According to Rowe, the state police fire marshal was not called to investigate the fire because it is not believed to be suspicious. The insurance company might choose to investigate and determine a cause.

Employees have been working on cleaning up the smoke damage to the warehouse and inventory.

"We expect to be packaging again in 12 weeks," Jones said,.

Improvements made after 2016 fire

Jones estimated that it will cost $2.5 million to $3 million to rebuild. Expensive, but less than the $4.2 million the business ended up paying to recover from a fire in August 2016 that destroyed all the kilns, about $300,000 in firewood, and seriously damaged a building.

That price tag also included $250,000 for a firewall designed to stop flames from spreading to other parts of the facility, such as the warehouse where completed product waits to be shipped out, and the Gish Logging offices.

"The firewall did its job and kept the fire from penetrating the main storage warehouse where he has a lot of wood already packaged," Rowe said. "It would have gotten very volatile."

The firewall will need to be replaced, Jones said.

Firefighters had better access to water this time around than in 2016, Rowe said. Back then, they had to pump water from the lake at Cowans Gap and transport it back to Gish Logging — approximately a 5-mile round trip.

This time, tankers were able to use access roads to pull water from the Conococheague Creek, which runs beside Gish Logging, Rowe said.

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Gish Logging thanks community

The community has stepped up to help the Jones family and their business push through their second major fire in not even seven years. Some have offered to help clean up the property. Others stopped by with food and drinks.

The Jones family said they especially thank the McConnellsburg Volunteer Fire Co., Fannettsburg Inn and the Franklin County Coroner's Office (which runs a rehab unit to help keep first responders refreshed while working crime and fire scenes) for providing food and drinks.

"We are very fortunate to live in a small community where everyone (rallies) around in the time of need. My wife Eloise our sons Michael and Eric along with their families give many thanks for all the help, calls and prayers," Jones said.

Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Chambersburg Public Opinion: Hotsticks firewood manufacturer faces second multi-million dollar fire