MECHANIC FALLS – Quick action by Parent Lumber Co. employees may have prevented a disastrous fire after flames erupted in a chipper room Thursday morning at the Route 26 company, said a company supervisor.

“All you could see was orange flames coming up. You didn’t know what your fate was,” said employee Stephen Jones, whose hair was singed when he tried to extinguish flames under equipment in the chipper room.

Firefighters from Poland, Mechanic Falls and Oxford responded to the blaze at 355 Pigeon Hill Road around 11 a.m. The company retails building products and materials, and wholesales rough dressed and finished lumber from its sawing and planing mill.

Jones, a 17-year employee who supervises the chipper room, said the fire was discovered by his son, Nate Jones, who also works in the chipping room.

“I came around here and I saw the flames. We all grabbed extinguishers,” said Nate Jones of Oxford, who has worked at the company for about seven years.

Stephen Jones said the chipper was valued at about $20,000. There was no immediate estimate available for damage to the equipment and room, which had heat and fire damage. The chipper likely could be rebuilt quickly with only minor disruption to work, Jones said.

He said it appeared that oil or another lubricant may have dripped from the bottom of the chipper, which sits on a cement floor in an enclosed room surrounded by metal siding on the inside and outside walls. The walls were sided and the floors cemented several years ago as a precaution against fire.

The company suffered a more serious fire about a dozen years ago, he said.

Jones said the men work in an adjacent room where unused lumber scraps are placed in runners that feed into the chipper. The wood is chipped and blown into an attached boxcar and shipped to local garden shops where it is used for mulch.

“You have to act instantaneously. The first few minutes are critical,” said Jones, adding that employees are trained in fire prevention methods.

The flames were about 3 feet high from under the chipper, but firefighters had to tear open the inside siding where they found hot spots on the walls and in the ceiling. The heat was also evident from the charred wooden vents near the roof.

“Everyone’s all right. That’s all that counts,” said owner Rick Parent, whose father started the lumber business in 1947.

Poland Fire Chief Mark Bosse said the flames were kept at bay because of the quick actions of employees and the work of firefighters.

“The guys did an outstanding job,” said Bosse, who praised Parent Lumber for its aggressive training and having a plan to help ensure mill safety.