Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
PACKERTON - Lightning struck Packerton Forest Products shortly after midnight today, starting a fire that destroyed the building.
Firefighters from six departments responded to the call at 12:22 a.m. They arrived at the scene to find the building fully engulfed in flames.
The building, owned by Joe Calhoun, was filled with logs that are cut and made into wooden pallets. The heat from the fire was so strong, according to one fireman, that the departments could not bring their trucks close to the building.
"We lost everything we had," said David Jayne, an employee of the company and a Silver Lake firefighter.
Jayne said he was one of the first men on the scene and described the building as a "big ball of fire from one end to the other." He said he thought he could save a forklift and other equipment but the fire was "too hot, we couldn't get in."
The fire apparently began during the worst of the severe thunderstorms that struck Kosciusko County Tuesday night and this morning.
Jayne said the jagged streaks of lighting were going "every which way" and lighting up the whole sky as firefighters fought the blaze.
The strategy was "surround and drown," said Sidney fire chief John Dome. The fire crews were at the scene all night although some were called away at 2:17 a.m. to fight a barn fire on CR 1200S. The barn was also reportedly struck by lightning.
No one was in the building at the time of the blaze. Dome said several neighbors heard the lightning strike and called 911.
Several of the five employees of the company did not know about the fire and arrived for work this morning.
"There's not the slightest idea what we're going do now," Jayne said as he looked at the ruined building. Another employee who worked for 11 years stood looking at the smoking debris in disbelief.
When asked what he thought about the fire, he said, "I think I need another job."
Jayne called the business a "good operation ... we sent out a lot of pallets."
Dome said the building was a total loss. No one was injured in the blaze.
Assisting the Sidney Fire Department were Claypool, Silver Lake, Chester, Pleasant and North Manchester fire departments.
