Firefighters save industrial building

PERE MARQUETTE TWP. — A brick storage building full of wood caught on fire early this morning at a lumber mill along Pere Marquette Highway. Firefighters were able to quickly find the source of the fire and extinguish it before the entire building went up in flames. Pere Marquette Township and Ludington fire departments were called to Macatawa Forest Products at 586 S. Pere Marquette Highway around 7:15 a.m. Ludington Fire Chief Jerry Funk was first to arrive and reported the building was fully engulfed, due to the large amount of smoke coming from inside the building.

Interior firefighting crews were used and managed to stop the fire from spreading. Because the closest fire hydrant was located on the west side of the road, and the building was on the east side, firefighters needed to shut down PM Highway.

PM Fire Chief said the building looked like it was a storage facility. He did not immediately know what started the fire.

“There doesn’t appear to be any electricity to the building,” he said. “Workers were doing some work in there last night.”

Firefighters were cleaning up around 8:30 and expected to clear the scene within the hour.