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Fire destroys Liberty business

October 22, 2010|By TODD KLEFFMAN | tkleffman@amnews.com

Firefighters battle a huge fire Thursday morning at Bluegrass Shavings on Ky. 70 in Liberty. The business, which employed 14 people, produced bedding for the horse industry. (Chris Zollner photo)

LIBERTY — A fire early Thursday morning leveled a Liberty business that produces bedding for horses from wood shavings.

The main building of Bluegrass Shavings at 1291 Ky. 70 just outside the city limits was fully engulfed in flames when the fire was reported about 5:40 a.m. The kiln-dried shavings provided fuel for the fire to spread quickly and burn intensely, Liberty Fire Chief Donnie Wilson said.

“They take all the moisture out of the wood, and that makes it just like kindling,” Wilson said. “It took us about three minutes to get there, and part of the roof had already fallen in.”

Clay Hoskins, part owner and manager of the business, said three employees were at the plant when the fire started in a large semi trailer that was parked inside as it was being loaded with shavings.

One of the employees saw a flash inside the trailer and attempted to drive the truck outside, but the fire already had grown so intense the plan was abandoned, Hoskins said.

The flames quickly spread from the trailer to the roof and then across the entire structure, Wilson said.

More than 50 firefighters from the city and volunteer departments from across the county tried to contain the blaze. Hot spots continued to rekindle during the afternoon, Wilson said.

Bluegrass Shavings began business in September 2009 and had 14 employees, Hoskins said. It converts shavings from pine, poplar and other soft woods into bedding that primarily is purchased by horse farms, he said.

Shavings from the logs, which are not marketable to sawmills, fall onto a conveyor belt and then move through a drying process that reaches temperatures of 850 degrees, Hoskins explained.

It is possible a malfunctioning bearing on the conveyor system caused some shavings to smolder and then ignite after they were loaded onto the truck, he said.

The business had been steadily growing until the fire.

“We’ve been doing good. We’ve been picking up customers,” Hoskins said. “This will set us back. There’s a lot of work to be done before we could get back in business. I talked to our customers this morning and they understand. They said they’d be back as soon as we could get up and running again.”

As of now, Hoskins said the plans are to rebuild, but he has no idea when Bluegrass Shavings will be back in business.

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