News: Thorp – UBC destroyed by Fire (30 Mar 1966)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
 
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----Source: THORP COURIER (Thorp, Clark County, Wis.) 07 Apr 1966

Fire destroyed the main warehouse of the united Building Cemetery lumberyard at Thorp (Clark Co., Wis.) Wednesday night, with an estimated loss of $75,000 in the building, lumber, supplies and equipment.

Firemen were called about 11:30 p.m., and found flames shooting through the roof of the 125 by 50 foot warehouse near the Soo Line Railroad depot.

The fire had reportedly been spotted from a dairy bar about a block away. Not touched in the fires was the main office of the firm, which is a building about 150 feet from the one which burned.

In addition to the building, around 10 carloads of lumber, shop equipment, including saws, joiners, and tooks, a large truck and a pickup truck and supplies were destroyed.

The fire was out of control for about an hour and a half, as the 22 men in the volunteer department battled the flames. Cause of the fire has not been determined. It appeared to be heaviest in the middle of the building when firemen first arrived at the scene.

There was not appreciable wind to spread the fire, and they were able to keep it away from nearby residences and the Soo Line depot across the street, although the heat from the fire melted the asphalt type covering on the side of the railroad depot.

There were no injuries. Six of the firemen remained on the scene all night and were checking for hotspots the next morning.

Thorp's last major fire was in the recreation club and bowling alley about three years ago.

The fire at Thorp is the fourth in a lumberyard in the northwest Wisconsin in recent months. Others were at Radisson, Boyd and Chippewa Falls.