JVFD helps avoid disaster at new plant
By SHARON KERR Staff Writer

Newsboy photo/Charles Kerr BY USING THEIR LADDER TRUCK, Jasper Volunteer firefighters were able to pour water onto the ductwork that caught fire at the future Tiger Truck facility.

The new Tower One ladder truck proved it's worth at a fire that broke out in the old Louisiana Pacific plywood plant on U.S. Highway 63 East Monday evening about 5 p.m.

Jasper deputy fire chief Bob Gary said, "It's not a $700,000 flagpole like some people have said. Just because we don't have high rise buildings doesn't mean we don't need the reach."

The preliminary report by Gary is that demolition crews were using a blowtorch to cut out the old sawdust blow lines when the fire started. The 100-foot ladder enabled firefighters to take the water to the burning ductwork that reaches three or four stories into the air.

Firefighters were trying to battle the blaze by hauling hose up stairs until Tower One arrived.

"You can't flow but a certain amount of water that way," Gary said.

There was little they could do to stop the runaway fire in the ductwork, but they were trying to keep the blaze from spreading to the structures, where more stored paper would have provided a heavy fuel load.

Newsboy photos/Charles Kerr JASPER VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS were able to contain a ductwork fire at the former LP plant Monday evening thanks to the ladder truck.The truck enabled the firefighters to pour water onto the ductwork and keep it from spreading to the structures.

Once Tower One was on the scene and two men on the platform, they were flowing 1,150 gal- -lons a minutes.

"We would have been out here all night and into the next day," Gary said. "With this ladder truck, we had it under control a little after 8 p.m. and now it's just mopping up."

Gary said there are a lot of situations where this truck may save time, expense and lives.

"You take a big store like a Lowe's or a Wal- Mart," Gary said. "If we need to get to the middle of a roof, we've got the reach. We can put water or men where they are needed whether it's for a fire or a rescue."

Gary said three units and about 20 men responded to the fire.

Jasper Economic Development Corporation recently announced that Tiger Truck will take over the facility for production of specialty vehicles.

Gary said the fire primarily damaged the ductwork that was slated for demolition anyway, and he said that he did not believe the fire would be a setback to plans to re-fit and open the new plant.