Fire Destroys Building at Katahdin Forest Products Mill in Oakfield, ME

On Tuesday, the Oakfield Fire Department (OFD) responded to a fire at the Katahdin Forest Products facility, The Country reported (8-6-24).

Upon arrival at approximately 11:00 AM, OFD firefighters found the mill building was totally engulfed in flames. OFD Fire Chief Mathew Scott immediately called for mutual aid to keep the fire from spreading to surrounding areas. According to mill owner Dave Gordon, “The flames were about 40 feet above that tower,” pointing to a tower at the scene on Tuesday afternoon.

By 4:00 PM, Scott said they had everything “pretty much mopped up,” but three sawdust bins are giving them the most problems, and he didn’t know how long they will be there. Scott said the more you dig into sawdust, the more it keeps burning and containing it is a slow process at best. Gordon said their sawdust bins have concrete bottoms and that will help in keeping the fire out, but sawdust bins at mills can burn for a couple years, he said.

The company will not lose production days from the blaze because Gordon will open the Ashland Mill on Thursday which has been closed for over a year, he said. “We will start sawing at my mill in Ashland,” he said. “I’ve got another local mill that’s going to be sawing for me as well so I don’t think we are going to lose any production at all.”

The insurance covers the contents of the mill that burned but does not cover the building, Gordon said. “Most insurance companies will no longer insure sawmills unless they are all steel,” he said. “All these were built before they changed their policies except for the last two, they are all steel.”

In 2020, Katahdin Forest products lost another mill at the Oakfield location to fire.