Early morning fire causes $2 million in damage to century-old Modesto lumber company
An early Friday four-alarm fire caused $1.7 million to $2 million in damage at American Lumber Co., which has been a fixture in downtown Modesto for nearly a century.
The fire destroyed about 40% of the Ninth Street business’s buildings and about 25% of its inventory, American Lumber President John Mensinger said in a phone interview. He said the fire also destroyed the business’s forklifts.
Modesto Fire Department Battalion Chief Darin Jesberg said the fire remains under investigation. There were no injuries to either employees or firefighters.
“We had a terrible fire,” Mensinger said. “We appreciate the good work of Modesto Fire in putting it out (and keeping it from spreading) and the good support of the other fire departments.”
But later Mensinger said: “I’m shell-shocked as you can imagine.” American Lumber has been in his family for four generations and employs nearly two dozen workers.
Division Chief Tim Tietjen said the call came in shortly after midnight for a fire in the area behind the lumber yard and between the train tracks.
The first crew to arrive found the fire had spread to inside the yard, and upgraded the call to a commercial structure fire response. The fire was eventually elevated to four alarms, Tietjen said, and it took crews about two and a half hours to get the fire under control.
City increased water pressure
“We had some substantial issues obviously with the amount of lumber that was inside and the amount of fuel that was there and trying to overcome that,” Tietjen said. “It was touch and go. ... We were very concerned about losing multiple buildings on the block.”
Firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading to the business’s retail showroom and a larger warehouse on the nearly block-long lumber yard. Tietjen said fire jumped to the eaves of the roof of next door Skewers Kabob House, but was quickly extinguished and kept from doing further damage.
Twelve engines, five ladder trucks, seven chief officers and about 63 personnel were called to the scene to help fight the blaze. Tietjen said initially crews encountered water issues because of the number of fire hoses connected to the water lines, but the city’s public works was able to increase pressure.
Ceres, Stanislaus Consolidated, Ripon, Manteca and Patterson fire departments assisted Modesto fire, according to a Modesto Fire Department Facebook post. Three of the five ladder trucks fought the fire from the air while others attacked it from the ground, Tietjen said.
Investigators have surveillance video
Mensinger said American Lumber could be back in business by the end of next week as long as it can get its power restored, clean up the debris from the fire and find some forklifts.
While the fire remains under investigation, Mensinger said investigators have video from his company’s surveillance cameras and were working on getting video from nearby businesses.
Mensinger said the fire destroyed two warehouses from the company’s founding in 1923 as well as the milling building, where wood is cut, shaped and planed. There was minor damage to the building that houses the business’s office, showroom and hardware store. The fire did not damage a newer warehouse.
This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 1:15 PM.
