INDUSTRY – Fire destroyed a building that housed a wood-turning mill on Rand Road off Route 148 late Wednesday, Fire Chief Joe Paradis said Thursday.

He said firefighters were able to save three nearby buildings that housed a saw mill and two drying kilns.

Chad and Tara Dubay Sr. of Industry have owned and operated CLDS Wood Products, a family business, for the past 2 years from the building that burned. They leased it from Bud Watson, also of Industry, Paradis said.

“What we do is squares and dowels and turn them in wood lathes to turn them into yo-yos, balls, wheels and (decorative) acorns,” Tara Dubay said. “We sold them to all kinds of different brokers all around the U.S.”

The business was a total loss, she said. “This is our income.”

They lost wood lathes, dowel machines, sanders, tumblers and other equipment.

They would like to rebuild their business, Dubay said, but it will depend on what the insurance company says.

Paradis said a state fire investigator was called in to try to find where the fire started and what caused it. He didn’t know whether the investigator would be able to determine the origin, he said, because of the extent of damage.

Paradis did not suspect foul play, he said.

More than 25 firefighters from Industry, New Sharon, Anson, Madison and Starks responded to the fire reported at about 10 p.m., he said.

The Dubays were in bed sleeping when they got a call from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department telling them the building was on fire, Tara Dubay said.

“We went over and it was gone. There were firetrucks everywhere,” she said.

The wood-turning mill, on the site of the former Watson’s Mill is located near the Anson side of town, which prompted mutual aid from both Franklin and Somerset counties.

When firefighters arrived, Paradis said, the building was fully engulfed.

Firefighters went into defensive mode to protect the other nearby buildings, he said. Tankers from several departments hauled 10,000 gallons of water to the scene and all of it was used, he said.

Dubay said they have talked to their brokers to let them know about the fire.

“We don’t know what we’ll do,” she said. “Right now, we’re just waiting for the state fire investigator.”


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