Lumber Firm Scrambles To Reopen After Fire

Anderson Lumber Co.’s 24 local employees quickly started rebounding from a weekend fire that destroyed the store’s main retail and office building and an external storage shed.

Meanwhile, officials launched an investigation into the fire’s cause after crews spent much of Sunday mopping up the damage. Two engines remained on the scene Monday.

“We were back to helping customers 13 hours after it started. We’re delivering lumber, taking care of our customers,” retail manager Peter Moore said. “We didn’t lose much lumber. To us, this is just a minor inconvenience.”

Katy and Gaylon Newbold, owners of Crystal Construction in McCammon, have been Anderson Lumber customers for 10 years. They were at the fire Saturday night and Newbold was there again Monday finding out about doors and windows he had ordered.

“This is going to put a big crimp in our business,” Katy Newbold said. “We’ve been working with them forever and we don’t want to go anywhere else.”

Employees pulled a camp trailer up to the building and forwarded telephone lines to an Anderson Lumber store in Blackfoot. The Ogden, Utah-based chain has 24 stores in the region, including four in eastern Idaho.