LA GRANDE — Nobody was hurt in an early morning fire at Woodgrain Lumber’s La Grande sawmill on Friday, Sept. 22.

The fire, at 2111 Island Ave., was reported at 2:48 a.m. and was in a 1,000-square-foot crawl space area under a floor.

Few if any people were in the structure when the fire started because the sawmill was not operating. The blaze was reported by someone passing. La Grande Fire Department Capt. Dusty Alam said smoke could be seen coming from the building when firefighters arrived on the scene.

Firefighters had to cut through a portion of the sawmill’s floor to reach the fire. Alam said this was difficult because the floor consists of old timbers that retain heat and are challenging to cut through because they are thick.

Firefighters were at the scene of the blaze for about three hours.

Alam said firefighters were able to knock the fire down quickly, but it then took them a considerable amount of time before they could reach all access points near the blaze to make sure it was completely out and had not spread.

The fire may have been caused by welding work conducted at the sawmill on Sept. 21, Alam said.

About 20 firefighters helped extinguish the blaze. The firefighters were from the La Grande, La Grande Rural and Imbler Rural fire departments. The Union Fire Department also provided support by sending an ambulance. Fire vehicles sent to the fire included an engine and an engine and ladder truck from the La Grande Fire Department and an engine from the La Grande Rural Fire Department.

Alam said the mutual aid received from area fire departments was a huge help.

“A fire like this would have been very hard for one department to take care of,” he said.